Carrie Lee - Clee Images

By Martine Mackenzie

Carrie Lee is diminutive in stature. But that’s it!

Everything else about her is larger than life.

She goes by Carrie, and she goes by Clee. “When I returned to my photography, I was looking for a catchy name. So I took the first letter of my first name, and added it to my last name, and got CLEE. My friends call me Clee, and I’m known as Clee professionally so obviously, the brand is working.”

Clee always knew she wanted to be a photographer. “I went to Sheridan College for commercial photography, but there, they gear you for portrait. Back then, it was film, not digital and the aim was to work in a studio or do product photography. Doing wedding photography and family portraits wasn’t my bag, although I did work in a portrait studio at first.”

Clee says, “There was no mentor available, I had no life experience, so that was the route I took but I knew it wasn’t for me. It was just too typical. Then, I fell out of it.”

Next came a career in real estate sales. “I was a good producer and spent most of my career working for REMAX. But the creative was always calling out to me. And one day, I decided that real estate just wasn’t enough.”

Ironically, Clee got the push she needed to take the jump back into photography on her way to finalizing a real estate deal. She ran into a friend who had a Ray Bradbury quote on his computer – “All of my life, I’ve jumped off the cliff and built my wings. It works every single time. It never fails.”

Those words were all that Clee needed to take the leap and to follow the instinct she had always had for documentary photography and photojournalism.

“It was a little bit of a transition going from the financial world to the creative world where I didn’t know anyone and didn’t know how to get started. So, I did some freebies at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) to get started and I was told I was good. I found my own style and went from there.”

Clee is all about following her heart and her passion –which is “creative stuff.”

“I’m an artist and I like to take photography and make it different! My style is social issue based stuff.

Clee’s focus is a trifecta -- celebrating women, animal life, and diversity.

“As women, we’ve come so far from the suffragette movement to where we are today, but I also want to put the lens on how far we have yet to go – women all over the world are dealing with domestic violence, human trafficking…there’s child brides, and female circumcision, and acid burning…in Iran – women have no rights! BUT, my projects are about celebrating and then acknowledging the flip-side.”

Photos courtesy of Carrie Lee of Clee Images. View her portfolio on Substack.

When we start talking about animals, Clee is especially passionate.

“I never try to push my views on others, but with animals, it’s all about their beauty up against commercialized animal agriculture and the inhumanity these animals face. For diversity, it’s not just about sexuality or race – it takes all kinds to make our world -- what makes us different – diversity is great and we should embrace it!”

Clee is driven by love and kindness. The purpose of her projects is to use her lens as a “weapon” to become a “visual” activist.

“It took a while, but I found my groove. I threw a lot of shit on the wall and saw what stuck. I learned from the tons of mistakes I made and have come out on the other side as a better woman, person, and photographer.

Clee credits a lot to the website, Substack. “It sat in my inbox for a while before I explored this platform and I fell in love with it. It’s a place I can put all of my photography. From here, my publication, ‘Behind the Lens’ was born.

Through all of this journey, Clee admits that she has been affected by her photography and the stories of the people she has photographed.

“I’ve shot and spoken to residential school survivors, a human trafficking survivor with an unbelievable story, and a 3-time breast cancer survivor. Substack gives me a place to tell their stories through my photography. There is no censorship of the human form here so I’m able to use tasteful nudes that I’ve photographed.

Clee has gained great momentum on Substack and has made many milestones on the platform. “There is a great built-in community here and we all support each other.”

Travel is something that Clee is looking forward to in the near future. “My favorite places so far are South Africa and Thailand. I’ve been so privileged to visit a game reserve by Land Rover in Africa and be at arm’s length from a herd of elephants showing up. It’s amazing to see them in the wild, but they are still terrifying in that they will chase. For some reason, they don’t recognize the human form in a Land Rover, so as long as we are in the truck, we’re safe,” she laughs.

Clee has her eye on Uganda as the next stop in her travels.

“I’ve got a thing for gorillas and I’m really looking forward to going to Uganda. Through the Substack community, I’ve also received invites to Sweden and Australia, so who knows where I’ll end up next?”

One thing is for sure – this is one strong, powerful, and larger than life lady who is on the move!