Allan de la Plante, DTM, Photographer,

Author, Publisher

Allan de la Plante has won many accolades for his photography of people of action. In 1970, he began taking portraits of sports personalities, especially those in the world of automobile racing. In 1974, he covered the Russia-Canada hockey series for the National Sport and Recreation Center. Between 1974 and 1976, commissioned by the Bank of Montreal, he created the first Canadian Gallery of Athletes. In 1976 he was the Official Photographer at the Montreal Olympic Games.

While de la Plante’s summers were organized around motor racing events, winters were spent capturing the exciting world of downhill racing.

Years of experience around the world

1978 saw the release of his first book, entitled Ski Free, with World Freestyle Champion, Greg Athans. Long before then, de la Plante and a fiery young motor racer by the name of Gilles Villeneuve had joined forces and began work on a book on Grand Prix Racing. De la Plante had begun recording Villeneuve’s meteoric rise from Formula Atlantic to the ultimate of Ferrari and Formula One. In the fall of 1982, after the untimely death of the great Canadian driver, de la Plante released ‘Villeneuve’, a photographic essay on Villeneuve’s racing life.
1983 saw the release of de la Plante’s third book, ‘The Original Gas Bar-B-Q Cookbook’ with Joanne Bennett.

Book number four came in 1984 in the form ‘Celebrate Our Faith’ the official book on the Canadian tour of Pope John Paul II.
‘Flame of Courage’ was released to great acclaim in 1993. The book on the Canadian firefighter has been hailed as the definitive book on fire fighting in Canada.

In 1997, Canada Post unveiled two stamps on Gilles Villeneuve, based on de la Plante’s photographs. It was the ultimate recognition of de la Plante’s work and Villeneuve’s racing life.

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