Doug Allan - An eye below Zero

Award winning cameraman Doug Allan came to Belfast for a talk on what he does best.

The Northern Ireland Science Festival saw Doug Allan presenting a talk on his life as a wildlife cameraman at the Whitla Hall at Queens University Belfast on the 25th February.

““I would like to make people realise they are connected to the planet...”

At this ticketed event, Allan had sold out every seat. Over 2000 people came to see the Scotsman talk about his life from tackling the freezing temperatures of the Arctic to making friends with penguins in Antarctica.

What does he do?

Allan works closely alongside David Attenborough on Planet Earth series one and two and also the Frozen Planet series' talking about the different challenges working with animals he encountered. He dives down to incredible depths of the oceans to capture images of whales and mammals we can only dream of seeing with our own eyes. He told hilarious anecdotes on how he stayed in Antarctica and had to bath in a child's bathtub outside in the snow and what to do when a polar bear charged,

"So when you see a polar bear charging towards you, just make sure you can run quicker than the other guy"

Doug spoke in great detail about his book "Freeze Frame" where he has the image that he took then the story behind it. Allan really tries to get people to understand the planet and what is harming it, he speaks in great detail about the terrifying issue of Global warming and how we can prevent it happening so quickly.

Doug kindly stayed afterwards to give people the chance to get a copy of his book signed that they had brought with them. He talked to everyone individually and asked them why they were interested in this kind of media, he was very excited when I said I wanted to work in the same field and also said his best friends wife was called Leah. He is a kind, incredible human who at 65 years of age, absolutely nothing is getting in this mans road.

Doug Allan is a legend who makes wildlife camerawork even cooler than it already is.

SAVE YOUR PLANET