Job Jealousy: Doug Allan - Cameraman on Human Planet, Blue Planet, Frozen Planet
By Into The Wild (Maria Sowter - Online Journalism Intern)
October 2012

Cameraman Doug Allan has provided some of the most remarkable wildlife and natural history footage to have appeared on our screens, including many of the unforgettable sequences seen in hugely popular series' such as The Blue Planet, Planet Earth, Life, Human Planet, and Frozen Planet. We ask Doug about his amazing career, from his favourite wildlife encounter to what it takes to be a cameraman. A truly fascinating interview well worth a read...  

You graduated with honours in marine biology. How did you end up becoming a cameraman?

My first passion was diving, which I started at school. That led to a marine biology degree, but on graduating in 1973 I decided I didn’t want to be in what I termed ‘science at the sharp end’ so I cut loose and simply looked for excuses to dive. Two years later I read an article in a fdive mag written by someone who’d just been a scientific diver in the Antarctic. I applied to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) and in 1976 was heading south to one of their research bases on a year’s contract as Diver. Best move I ever made. The job involved some stills photography, over the course of several more winters with them I took up movie, sold some to the BBC for s series on birds, realised that full time wildlife filming encapsulated so much of what turned me on so slipped away from BAS and onto the open seas of being a freelance cameraman.

You’ve spent a lot of your career filming on ice, inspiring the title for your recent publication Freeze Frame. What attracts you to the ice and arctic conditions?

I guess at heart I like the challenge. There’s always been a physical element to what I’ve liked doing, a kind of edginess. Extreme conditions make for high emotions. It’s not like I’m an adrenaline junkie, and I don’t like bullshit, but there’s a huge satisfaction in bringing back pictures from difficult situations. I’m at home in the ice.

What’s the most awe-inspiring sight you’ve seen whilst filming?

Wow that’s a hard one. Impossible to pick a single experience. Eye-to-eye with humpback whales underwater only a metre apart, and feeling their friendliness. Watching polar bear cubs come out from their den for the very first time, tiny, like puppies, tentatively balancing across the snow slopes. Seeing killer whales swimming cooperatively to create a wave big enough to wash a seal off its ice floe and into the water where they could catch it. Looking out over a glacier face and seeing the power when a million tonne iceberg is formed, when the ice that has been underwater surfaces like the smooth hull of a massive 250m long submarine. I’ve been lucky.

What makes a good cameraman?

Good eye for a picture, but even better a good eye for making the pictures tell stories. Remember – your editor is the person you really need to please. And never stop learning.

What’s been your favourite wildlife encounter?

Another hard one. Face-to-face has to be the best, so if you really pushed me for one I’d say the hour I spent with a pod of belugas off the ice edge in the Canadian Arctic. Flat calm clear black water, curious all white whales, the sea full of their chirping calls. They were surely trying to talk to me. Fleeting but absolutely magical.

What are the physical and mental challenges you face on an expedition and how do you prepare?

Physically, just try and stay fit. It’s often stamina that’s needed rather than sheer brute strength. Mentally, well remember the old mantras. You can only be in one place at one time, so make the best call you can on where to go that morning in the hope of finding your quarry. You won't always make the right choice but be philosophical when that happens. On the other hand, if you’re not out there looking, well you’ll never see it. So even in adverse weather, give it a try. Even when you don't see what you’re looking for, you’re still gaining some kind of valuable experience of the animals’ environment. As far as dealing or living with the others on the team, well we all have our bad days so smile and be patient with your fellow film makers in the team. Doesn’t always work though.

What tips can you give for taking a good picture?

Look all around you in quality magazines and you’ll see examples of good photography. Ask yourself why they’re good and see where you can apply what you learn to your own shots. Want to be better. Invest in “extreme” lenses – wider or longer than you might first think of. Experiment – it’s so much easier with digital and it’s instant feedback.  

Where and when in your travels have you felt happiest?

Any time I come away knowing I’ve captured something really special, and all the shots are in ‘the can’. Usually the actual moments of interaction with an animal are too full of concern for the shots you need to take but just occasionally they last long enough to savour as experiences at the time. Holding hands with a young chimpanzee in Ngamba chimp orphanage was real peaceful.

What conservation issues have you faced or in your experience do you think need addressing?

Sharks are being massacred in massive numbers worldwide. Not just for their fins but the Chinese are now moving on to mantas for their gills, which they say when eaten have the power to cleanse a human’s lungs of pollution. So called traditional medicine which is actually an urban myth only concocted in the last few years. And of course the signs of climate change are all over the Arctic, with the ice free summers lengthening. Big bad things are already happening and I’m afraid it’s only going to become worse. We missed the chance to make a big difference.

Passport stamp your proudest of?

Going to indulge in some bs here, but I enjoy having stamps from both the Geographic Poles, north and south, in the same passport right now.

Passport stamp you’d most like to have?

I’d like to visit New Caledonia in the South Pacific.

First travel experience?

Our family was lucky enough to take advantage of the first of the package deal holidays to Spain and the Mediterranean in the early sixties. That was where I first became interested in snorkelling, which then became diving which then led me to what I do now.

Favourite journey?

The walk up to Everest base camp on the Nepalese side is truly lovely. Rhododendron forests to the side, towering peaks on the skyline, the scary sense of anticipation that you’re going to venture among them.

Top three places you’ve visited worldwide?

Himalayas, Antarctica and Tonga.

What’s been your worst habit as a traveller?

I enjoy almost everything about foreign places, somehow especially the hardships. But I’m lousy at adapting to foreign food. And the more truly exotic I’m offered, the less I can face it.

What’s your travel soundtrack?

I tend to go for extremes, either loud and proud like Bruce Springsteen in the early days, or introspectively thoughtful. Lyrics are almost more important than the melody somehow and I like them simple. James Taylor’s a favourite of mine.

What would be your best piece of advice for anyone planning on travelling?

Go slowly, go cheaply, go on your own or with just one other, not in a big group. Plan 25% of your trip and go with the flow for the rest.

Most essential travel item (after your passport and visas!)?

A camera and a decent book to read. I don’t yet have a Kindle but I can see their advantages. Reading sees me fine through any spell of non-filming weather.

What’s the most touristy thing you’ve ever done?

Universal Studios in LA with my son Liam last year. We were in at 0900 on the dot, stayed until almost midnight, did most of the good rides at least three times, fed on Pizzas, burgers and Mexican. Had a bundle of laughs and thoroughly enjoyed it.

If heaven and hell were places on Earth, where would they be?

Heaven is being anywhere in the company of a wild animal that trusts you enough to relax and behave naturally in front of you, even if that means he or she simply goes to sleep. Hell is too many people.

What’s your most impressive or useful phrase you can say in a foreign language?

Going to be old fashioned and corny here but the best words to know in all languages are still “Please” and “Thank You”.

What piece of film or photograph are you most proud of capturing?

It’s with my old friends the polar bears. We spent a wonderful afternoon with one swimming between the floes in Hudson Bay, Canada. He totally accepted our presence, wasn’t in the slightest bothered, and we could take the boat quietly right alongside him then take a little remote underwater camera on the end of a pole, and hold this right up close. Water so calm his whole body was reflected above him, trailing his huge hind legs, just paddling with his front legs. No one had ever seen an image of a bear like that before, in the final show we ran four minutes simply of him swimming. The scene had a beautifully unexpected majesty about it.

What’s next?

Possible trip through the North West Passage, then 25 lecture dates in Scotland and scattered through England, followed by possibly filming a doc about a shipwreck off Namibia or perhaps a session with coral reef scientists in French Polynesia. Antarctica over Christmas. Life is nothing if not varied!

Doug will be talking about his experiences on his upcoming Theatre tour around Scotland and the north of England during October and November for tickets and information see www.dougallan.com

See the original blog post on INTO THE WILD – The Gap Year Blog from Frontier.

If you're interested in testing your filming skills on your own adventure, why not check out the variety of volunteering opportunities available through Frontier. From teaching placements, marine conservation projects and much more, find out what you could be contributing towards.