A DORCHESTER soldier has told of his delight after winning a top photography award.

Sergeant Gary Kendall, an Army Photographer and Video Cameraman with the Royal Logistic Corps (RLC), won the Professional Video category at this year's Army Photographic competition.

His winning entry was a video of Army Musician cellist Adrian Calef of the Countess of Wessex String Orchestra playing Flight of the Bumble Bee in the gardens of Wilton House, Wiltshire.

Sgt Kendall, 39, who is married with three daughters and based in Andover, said it had been a joint effort as he collaborated on the video with Sergeant Russ Nolan.

He added: “I felt really chuffed. It's always nice to win something. It's nice to know your footage, especially when it's judged by someone outside the organisation, is getting where it needs to be.

“I think it's been noted that the way we've been trying to film stuff is different. And that's the good thing about the job; you get to experiment and you get to do different things.”

Photography is a recognised trade in the RLC and there are 36 professional photographers in the British Army, assigned to brigades around the UK and Germany, and working as part of AMC at Army Headquarters in Andover.

The annual competition is open to all regular and reserve personnel, staff and cadets, and MOD civilians and contractors who work directly with the Army.

A stills photographer by trade, Sgt Kendall has picked up the video camera more recently to film the Army in action for broadcast and archive purposes.

He said of his winning video: “I thought of Flight of the Bumble Bee and I thought of a nice summer evening, a big house, a big garden; and then you've got this cellist and this nice instrument that works in this setting. So, you get a feel for the mood.”

Entries for the different categories were judged by Jane Sherwood, Picture Editor on the Sunday Express, and Jon Mills of SWNS Picture Agency, alongside Brigadier Nick Orr of the Army Media and Communication (AMC).

Sgt Kendall joined the Army 20 years ago and was a driver until making the switch to photographer four years ago.

He said: “I wanted to do something different and as I was a keen amateur photographer I decided to try and find out if there was anything else I could do with it; found out about the photographic trade and just went for it.”

He has been all over the world as a photographer and completed a six-month operational tour in Afghanistan in 2010 with 4th Mechanized Brigade.