Timothy Allen was born in Tonbridge in the South East of England in 1971. At 22, after graduating from Leeds University with a BSc Zoology he left the UK and spent 3 years traveling through Indonesia which was the catalyst that sparked his passion for photography. In the nineties, after beginning a part-time diploma in photography, Timothy joined an aid convoy to Bosnia in order to shoot his first year reportage project. Six months later he left college, moved to London and began working for the Sunday Telegraph, later inspiring commissions from all the British broadsheet publications and finally, a 6 year position at The Independentworking predominantly on features and portraits. Timothy joined Axiom Photographic Agency in 2002 leading him to cover a dynamic and broad spectrum of global stories with subjects ranging from the civil war in the remote Spice Islands of far eastern Indonesia, to the intriguing subculture of The World Taxidermy Championships in Springfield , Illinois.
Beginning in 2009 the BBC commissioned Timothy to work on the landmark series Human Planet. For two years he was in charge of the production’s photography at a time when the first DSLRs were beginning to adopt HD film capabilities and consequently for the first time his job included shooting film footage and multimedia content as well as the conventional photographic stills destined for use in the programme’s worldwide publicity, a best selling book and a touring photographic exhibition. The weekly blog he wrote documenting his experiences during that incredible project can be found here.
In recent years the focus of his work has continued to move in the direction of multimedia production taking him to every corner of the globe, from 19 000 ft up in the Himalayas to 40 metres beneath the South China Sea as well as projects within communities in the Arctic, tropical rain forests and remote desert locations.
Timothy is a regular commentator on TV and radio in the field of media and travel/exploration and he is an experienced public speaker having undertaken inspirational lecture tours for the likes of the Royal Geographical Society as well as giving keynote presentations at conferences and corporate events around the world. He also runs a small number of very popular workshops and expeditions for photographers and filmmakers who desire the opportunity to work and learn alongside him.
Commendations include: 6 Picture Editors Guild Awards, 17 Travel Photographer of the Year commendations including the overall title in 2013, 2 British Press Awards nominations as Photographer of the Year and a Press Photographer’s Year Award. ‘Human Planet’ has received a host of awards including 2 BAFTAs, an Emmy and the ITB Cultural Book Prize.