Renowned wildlife cameraman Doug Allan has died aged 74 while trekking in Nepal.<\/p>\n
Described as a “true pioneer” of wildlife filmmaking, Allan was a principal cameraman on a number of BBC series including Planet Earth, Frozen Planet and The Blue Planet, and often worked with David Attenborough.<\/p>\n
He won several BAFTA and Emmy awards for his work and in 2017 was awarded a BAFTA for Outstanding Contribution to Craft at the British Academy Scotland Awards.<\/p>\n
His management company Jo Sarsby Management said he died “immersed in nature and surrounded by friends”.<\/p>\n
Paying tribute to him, they said: “A true pioneer of wildlife filmmaking, Doug captured some of the most breathtaking and intimate moments in the natural world.”<\/p>\n
They added: “Doug leaves behind a visual legacy that few could ever match.<\/p>\n
“His work brought audiences closer to the wonders of our planet, inspiring awe, understanding and deep respect for the planet.<\/p>\n
“When we think of Doug, we will always remember his unforgettable kindness and his extraordinary talent.<\/p>\n
“It has been an honour and a privilege to represent Doug as his agent and to know him as a friend for over 30 years. He was a true gentleman and he will be profoundly missed.<\/p>\n
“Our thoughts are with his family, friends, colleagues across the wildlife filmmaking industry and the many people around the world who admired his work.”<\/p>\n
Originally from Dunfermline in Fife, Allan graduated from Stirling University in 1973 with an honours degree in marine biology.<\/p>\n
In 1976 he became a research diver on the British Antarctic Survey station at Signy Island in the South Orkneys and his interested in filming developed.<\/p>\n
He previously described how a chance meeting with David Attenborough led to his decision to become a wildlife cameraman.<\/p>\n
In a previous interview, Allan said: “When I graduated (from Stirling University) I came out and did various jobs to do with diving, went to the Red Sea to work with some biologists, worked for a year with Bill Abernethy, who was Scotland\u2019s last full-time professional pearl fisherman.<\/p>\n
“Then I went to the Antarctic and that\u2019s when I as a diver discovered photography.”<\/p>\n
Asked how he became a wildlife filmmaker, he explained: “It was a chance meeting with David Attenborough, of all people, in 1981. He turned up in our base with a small film crew.<\/p>\n
“I helped him for a couple of days and quite literally at the end of those two days I looked at the cameraman and thought ‘you know, you are doing all the things I like doing\u2019.”<\/p>\n
He added: “The next trip to the Antarctic I bought a 16mm movie camera and in the wonderful naiveness of youth I went and did some filming of emperor penguins and sold the footage to BBC when I went back.<\/p>\n
“That\u2019s where it all started.”<\/p>\n
Source: Press Association<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Renowned wildlife cameraman Doug Allan has died aged 74 while trekking in Nepal. Described as a “true pioneer”…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":389876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-389875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/389876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}