About Dean Allan
A lifetime in photography. A passion for the Scottish landscape.
My professional career began in London, where I studied photography before entering the world of commercial and advertising photography. I spent many years working in studios, photographing everything from fashion to advertising campaigns, learning the importance of light, composition, attention to detail and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to communicate something through an image.
It was a wonderful education, although I eventually found myself drawn increasingly towards photography beyond the studio.
Travel photography offered the opportunity to explore new places, experience different cultures and discover the pleasure of working with natural light. But it was landscape photography that gradually became my greatest passion.
There was something about being outside, responding to the changing conditions and discovering photographs that couldn’t be planned or controlled that appealed to me enormously.
And the more time I spent photographing landscapes, the more I realised that the photographs which meant the most to me weren’t necessarily the most spectacular.
They were often the quieter, simpler images. The ones that captured a feeling rather than simply described a place.
I guess being the son of, who I still consider to be the most talented and gifted photographer I've ever seen, I was always going to be attracted to the wonderful world of photography. There were always cameras lying around the house and a darkroom to learn my craft.
Fulfilling the Dream
Like many photographers, my photographic journey hasn’t followed a perfectly straight line.
There were periods when family life and other responsibilities took priority, and photography wasn’t always at the centre of everything I did.
But the fascination never disappeared.
Over the years, Sally and I have been fortunate to travel to some extraordinary places, experiencing landscapes that have left lasting impressions on us.
Iceland, in particular, played an important part in developing my interest in landscape photography. Its extraordinary combination of space, atmosphere, light and weather encouraged me to look at landscapes in a different way.
I remember becoming increasingly fascinated by the unpredictability of the natural world. Unlike my earlier years working in commercial photography, where so much could be carefully planned and controlled, landscape photography demanded a different approach. I had to learn to be patient, to accept whatever conditions presented themselves and to recognise opportunities that I might previously have overlooked.
There was something wonderfully liberating about that. I began spending more time simply observing, often putting the camera aside until something genuinely caught my attention. Gradually, I realised that the experience of being in the landscape was becoming just as important to me as the photographs I brought home.
I began to appreciate that a photograph didn’t always need a dramatic sunrise, spectacular mountain or perfectly arranged foreground to be successful.
Sometimes the most interesting photographs were found in the smallest details, the simplest compositions or the most unpromising conditions.
It was a gradual process of discovery, and one that continues today.
I don’t believe we ever stop learning as photographers. Our tastes change, our understanding develops and the things that once excited us photographically may no longer hold quite the same appeal.
For me, that continuing evolution is one of photography’s greatest pleasures.
Moving to Scotland | A New Chapter
In 2019, Sally and I made the life-changing decision to move permanently to the Scottish Highlands.
It was something we’d dreamed about for years.
Having spent so much time travelling to Scotland to photograph its landscapes, the opportunity to make the Highlands our home felt almost too good to be true.
And it has proved to be one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
Living here has transformed my relationship with the landscape.
Instead of arriving somewhere for a few days and hoping the weather behaves, I can return to familiar places throughout the year, watching how they change with the seasons, the light and the weather.
A location that offers very little one day can become extraordinary the next. Equally, somewhere that appears spectacular at first glance may offer surprisingly few photographs that genuinely interest me.
That understanding has changed the way I approach landscape photography.
I’ve become increasingly interested in simplicity, atmosphere, negative space and the quieter moments that are so easily overlooked.
And I’ve learned that Scotland doesn’t need to be dramatic to be beautiful.
Sometimes grey skies, soft light and a seemingly empty landscape offer everything I could possibly want.
Bleak is beautiful.
Learning to See Differently | The photographs that mean the most
Over the years, my approach to landscape photography has changed considerably.
Earlier in my career, I was often attracted to the grand view. The dramatic mountain, the extraordinary light, the photograph that immediately demanded attention.
I still enjoy those moments, of course.
But increasingly, I find myself drawn towards something quieter.
A subtle change in colour. The gentle curve of an incoming tide. A solitary tree surrounded by space. The relationship between two simple shapes within a landscape.
I’m fascinated by the challenge of removing unnecessary distractions and finding the essential elements that make a photograph work.
For me, composition is not simply about following rules. It’s about understanding relationships, balance, space and the way our eyes move through an image.
And while technique is important, I believe the creative decisions we make before pressing the shutter are often far more significant than the camera settings themselves.
I’ve always felt that the strongest photographs begin with some kind of emotional connection to the landscape.
Without that connection, we can still produce technically accomplished photographs.
But whether they mean quite as much is another question.
Sharing My Passion for Photography
One of the unexpected pleasures of my photographic career has been discovering just how much I enjoy sharing my experience with others.
Today, I lead small-group landscape photography workshops and private photographic tours across the Scottish Highlands, Outer Hebrides and other remarkable locations throughout Scotland.
I also run workshops in Northern Ireland and Donegal.
What I enjoy most isn’t simply introducing photographers to beautiful places.
It’s watching someone begin to see a landscape differently.
Perhaps they discover a composition they would previously have walked straight past. Perhaps they begin to understand why a photograph isn’t working, or gain the confidence to experiment with an approach they haven’t tried before.
Sometimes it’s simply seeing someone become more comfortable trusting their own judgement.
Those moments are enormously rewarding.
My workshops are deliberately small, usually with just three to five photographers, because I believe individual attention and the opportunity for proper discussion make a tremendous difference.
I don’t want everyone returning home with the same photographs.
I’d much rather help each person develop their own interests, ideas and photographic style.
And although I bring more than 35 years of professional experience to my workshops, I never pretend to have all the answers.
Photography is wonderfully subjective, and I often learn something from the people who join me.
The most rewarding part of teaching isn’t showing someone how I would photograph a landscape. It’s helping them discover how they would photograph it.
Still Learning. Still Looking.
Despite spending most of my working life with a camera, I still experience the same excitement when I discover a photograph that genuinely interests me.
And I still experience the frustration of standing in front of an extraordinary landscape and having absolutely no idea what to photograph.
Perhaps that’s part of the attraction.
I’ve come to realise that experience doesn’t necessarily make finding photographs any easier. If anything, it can make us more selective, more questioning and perhaps a little less willing to settle for the obvious. There are days when I return home with very little to show for my efforts, but I no longer consider those days wasted.
Sometimes simply being out in the landscape, watching the light change or discovering something I hadn’t noticed before, is reward enough. And occasionally, when I least expect it, everything comes together in a photograph that reminds me exactly why I fell in love with photography in the first place.
Landscape photography continues to challenge me, surprise me and occasionally make me question everything I thought I understood about it.
I hope it always will.
I’m fortunate to live in a beautiful part of Scotland, to spend much of my time exploring its landscapes and to share those experiences with people who enjoy photography as much as I do.
I couldn’t really ask for much more.
And if you’d like to join me on one of my photography workshops, I’d be delighted to welcome you.