allanga_69's photostream

PRINTS of nearly all my images are available. Contact me by email (aa69@comcast.net) for details.

Allan attended school for an engineering degree, but he’s self-taught in photography and acting. He married in college, began a promising career at Hewlett-Packard in Northern California, and then had his mind blown five years later by a week of theatergoing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He’d never been on stage before, but after seeing these wonderful play productions he decided to give acting a try. Directly following his return from Ashland, he auditioned for a college production of Twelfth Night and landed a small speaking role. From that point on, there was no turning back (forgive the cliche).

The right-brain explosion ignited by theatre led to a discovery of black & white photography. Not long after, he jettisoned the engineering career and the marriage, opened a photo studio, and auditioned for professional theatre work in Berkeley. Nearly twenty years later, he is acting professionally and making photographs, but still doing technical work (freelance and contract) to keep the wolf from the door (oops, another cliche!).

The possibilities for monochrome continue to fascinate and stimulate him. It’s likely that watching black & white films and television programs (such as The Twilight Zone) as a child had a major impact on his imagination and sensibilities that no amount of color media could later lessen. His friends in Seattle’s theater community appear (often obscurely) in some of his pictures, and also provide production assistance.