Allan de la Plante

Allan de la Plante has won many accolades for his photography of people of action. He began taking portraits of sports personalities in 1970, especially those in the world of automobile racing. He created the composite portrait to showcase the athlete and the action. He began recording Gille Villeneuve's meteoric rise from Formula Atlantic to the ultimate, Formula One. They joined forces later to work on a book on Grand Prix racing. After the untimely death of Villeneuve  in 1982, Allan released 'Villeneuve', a photographic essay on his friend's racing life.​​​​​​​​​

 

In 1995 Allan's 1982 'Villeneuve' book, was reborn as 'Villeneuve a Racing Legend'. This book, coupled with its fully-interactive CD-ROM, became the book on Villeneuve. It won the 1996 Bronze medal in the New Media Invision Awards, a world-wide competition in the publishing industry. Allan's work was recognized by the government of Canada 1997. Canada Post selected his photographs to be the base in the design of two commemorative stamps in memory of Gilles Villeneuve. They were released in June 12, 1997. In 2013 Villeneuve A Racing Legend was released as an ebook on Amazon.com.

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​In 1974 Allan covered the Russia-Canada hockey series for the National Sport and Recreation Center. Between 1974 and 1976 Allan created The First Canadian Gallery of Athletes, a collection of portraits of Canada's top athletes of the time. In 1976 he became the official Canadian and COJO Photographer at the Montreal Olympic Games.

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​While Allan's summers were spent capturing automobile racing, his winters were spent covering the exciting world of downhill racing during the era of the Crazy Canucks. His first book, 'Ski Free', with World Freestyle Champion, Greg Athans was released in 1978. He has continued to photograph high level athletes through the years.

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In 2014, Allan got more involved in the thoroughbred racing world. Besides thoroughbred races, he has photographed harness racing, polo games, and the historic Palio in Italy. He is currently shooting with the BC Lions football team.

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Allan has been closely linked to the firefighting world. He wrote the definitive book on fire fighting in Canada in 1993. Flame of Courage sold over 70,000 copies to date. He also created the images used for the Firefighters Burn Centre showcase wall as well as for the signature sculpture at the front of the building.

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Allan has photographed artists, musicians and theatre as well, following Les Miserables through 93 worldwide performances. He began painting in 2017.

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Allan's books:​​​​​​​​​​​​

• 1978 Ski Free

• 1982 Villeneuve

• 1983 The Complete Gas Bar-B-Q Cookbook with Joanne Bennett

• 1984 Celebrate Our Faith, the official book on the Canadian tour of Pope John Paul II

• 1995 Villeneuve: A Racing Legend

• 1998 Flame of Courage - the Canadian firefighter

• 2002 Malibu - Young Life's pictoral history of their beautiful children's camp on the Princess Lousia Inlet north of Vancouver, British Columbia.

• 2004 Bowen Reflections - Allan directed this book which tells the story of Bowen Island from the 1850's to the mid-sixties

• 2013 Villeneuve: A Racing Legend (ebook)

• 2014 Heffer's Secret (novel)

• 2014 The Summer of Arnie Trout (novel)

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In 2021 Allan was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame as a significant contributor in media. 

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In 2023 Allan was inducted into the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame, recognized for his significant contributions to sports, particularly through photography

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