SCUBA Editor Simon Rogerson pays tribute to the award-winning underwater cameraman Doug Allan, who died earlier this year
TRIBUTE
PHOTO: SUE FLOOD
Doug filming in the Arctic
Doug Allan – a life on the wild side
SCUBA Editor Simon Rogerson pays tribute to the award-winning underwater cameraman Doug Allan, who died earlier this year
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Doug Allan was a standard bearer for the stark beauty of polar habitats, an inspiration to divers and the viewing public. He was principal cameraman for a number of blue chip nature documentaries, including The Blue Planet, Planet Earth and Frozen Planet, earning a reputation for working in extreme conditions. He leaves an unparalleled visual legacy.
Although he was 74 at the time of his death, the news came as a shock to the
Doug films a humpback whale and calf
PHOTO: SUE FLOOD diving community. He was known for his durability, to the extent that his friend Sir David Attenborough considered him to be“ impervious to cold”. But time caught up with Doug on a trek to Annapurna base camp in the Himalayas, where he suffered breathing difficulties and later died in hospital.
Now we are left to contemplate his legacy. Even the barest of outlines is deeply impressive: Doug won eight Emmy Awards for his work and was made an OBE for services to broadcast media and environmental awareness in 2024.
Doug was born( alongside his twin brother, Ron) in 1951, in Dunfermline, Fife, where he was inspired by Jacques Cousteau’ s seminal 1956 documentary, The Silent World, at an early age. He graduated in marine biology from the University of Stirling, and trained to dive with BSAC. His first job was as a pearl diver with Bill Abernathy, the last pearl fisher in Scotland.
In 1976, he began an eight-year stint as a research diver with the British Antarctic Survey( BAS), based on the South Orkney Islands. He was promoted to Station Commander and was awarded the Polar Medal by Queen Elizabeth, and the Fuchs Medal by the BAS for his achievements in the Antarctic.