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Allan Family Doug Allan, a cameraman whose skill at capturing candid scenes of penguins, bears, walruses and other animals that populate the earth’s polar extremes — both above and below the ice — earned him a brace of awards and the unbounded admiration of the renowned nature documentarian David Attenborough, who worked with him on many films, died on April 8 while hiking in the Pokhara region of Nepal.
He was 74. Liam Allan, his son, said the cause was a brain aneurysm. Mr. Allan, who trained as a marine biologist and a diver, took up photography as a hobby in the 1970s while working for the British Antarctic Survey, England’s polar research organization.
After selling footage of emperor penguins to the BBC, he decided to become a freelance cameraman. He quickly became a go-to cinematographer for nature documentaries, especially those requiring patience and skill in some of the world’s most challenging environments.
His work was featured in films and mini-series, including “Life in the Freezer” (1993), “The Blue Planet” (2001), “Planet Earth” (2006) and “Frozen Planet” (2011) — all narrated by Mr. Attenborough.
Though he worked with a number of filmmakers, he was most closely associated with Mr. Attenborough, who considered him the best wildlife photographer in the world. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
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