Royal Navy cameraman scoops top award for second year

As well as being named Royal Navy Photographer of the Year, Petty Officer (Photographer) Sean Clee, 40, who works at HM Naval Base Devonport in Plymouth, scooped a number of awards including the annual Peregrine Trophy, which rewards excellence and inspires the highest standards among Royal Naval photographers, the Royal Navy Open Category (Highly Commended 2008), Commandant General Royal Marines Portfolio Prize (Highly Commended 2008) and a Communicators in Business Award, Best News Image, Class winner 2008.

The talented lensman’s eye-catching images from Afghanistan have regularly been seen in the international news media. His pictures are in demand, partly because they are rare in capturing moments of extreme danger during close-quarter fighting but they are also of a high technical standard. Many possess the unique quality of giving the viewer the feeling of being involved in the situation.

See Related Links>>> to view some of the stunning images taken by PO (Phot) Sean Clee while on operations in Afghanistan

During his time with the Royal Marines in helmand province PO (Phot) Clee got close enough to be hit by shrapnel in one shoulder, with several Royal Marines around him badly injured in the same attack.

PO (Phot) Clee is now photographic section manager at the Photographic Unit in Devonport. In Afghanistan he was given privileged access to be in the thick of the action because of his previous experience of working with Royal Marines, including when he worked with the amphibious task group commander and landing in southern Iraq.

"I feel privileged to have been accepted by the Marines on the frontline where such intense close fighting was happening," he said.

"I was out there taking risks with my life on a daily basis and could have been killed many times during fire-fights, but you just concentrate on getting the best images you can. There is also a natural tendency to feel invincible with a camera in your hand."

While in Afghanistan PO (Phot) Clee slept and lived as the combat troops did, but his most uncomfortable time was sleeping for two weeks in so-called shallow ‘shell scrapes’ which he and the other troops dug themselves in the desert sand in freezing temperatures at night, only sleeping and waking during darkness to avoid discovery by the enemy.

PO (Phot) Sean Clee joined the Royal Navy in 1991 as a missile-man. After training he joined his first ship, HMS Ambuscade a Type 21 frigate, then was drafted to Gibraltar as an adventure training instructor. After a spell in Gibraltar he served in HMS Itchen, a Northern Ireland patrol vessel and then spent the next two years training young Royal Naval officers aboard HMS Orwell, based at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth.

Career change

After spending ten years as an Able Seaman Missile-man PO (Phot) Clee had a career change - as a keen amateur photographer, he passed the Royal Navy photographic specialisation test and was accepted onto the photographic career course at the Joint School of Photography at RAF Cosford in October 2001.

After qualifying as a leading photographer he worked at HMS Drake photographic section, then went to sea as a photographer with Fleet Photographic Unit at Tipner Portsmouth and deployed on patrol and exercise to the West Indies, Australia, Middle East, Eastern Europe and two operational deployments to the Gulf, one during the second Gulf War. In 2003 he was promoted to Petty Officer and drafted as photographer at 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines where his assignments varied from the Arctic conditions of Norway in 2006, to the jungle and mango swamps of Senegal and the deserts of Afghanistan

Originally from Stoke-On-Trent, he has experience ranging from photographing the Queen on official duties to prime ministers and portraits of admirals. Outside the Navy, his inspirations come from his love of the outdoors and wildlife and he has recently finished a portfolio of African culture, wildlife and landscapes.

His list of achievements include Royal Navy Photographer of the Year Award, Winner 2007, Royal Navy News Award, Highly Commended 2007, Royal Navy Peregrine Trophy, Highly Commended 2007, Royal Navy Peregrine Trophy, Highly Commended 2006, Maritime Books Trophy, Winner 2004.