With my photography I try to strike a balance between documentary and fine art. I want to show what it looked like as I was there. However, sometimes I want to add something to whatever I just perceived as my reality which cannot be seen; mostly abstraction through time, or draw the attention of the viewer towards the existing, yet unperceived.
When I first picked up a camera, there still were rolls of film in them. In recent years I got myself a Hasselblad film camera, to add film to my repertoire as a professional photographer, thus also re-introducing black and white photography.
Minimalism in my photography is rather rare as I mostly use it to slow down and train my ability to see. Within my body of work, bnw-minimalism is used to study light, form, texture and composition.
Allen grew up in Sydney Australia. From an early age he realised a keen sense of all things visual, leading him to pick up his father’s 35mm film camera. At 16 he bought his first camera, a Pentax K 1000 which he still has today. He spent many hours in the shed at the back of his parent’s garage printing his images in a homemade darkroom.
With his photographic portfolio he was accepted into college where he studied film production specialising in cinematography. Allen has had a successful career as a cinematographer, is a fully accredited member of the Australian Cinematographers Society [ACS] and has won numerous cinematography awards.
Allen is now being recognized globally for his fine art photography. It is this medium that resonates on a more personal level and is a direct expression of his artistic vision.