JULIAN ALLEN
A multidisciplinary talent, working across photo, film, and sound.
WHO I AM
I'm a photographer, filmmaker, and editor based in Oakland. I grew up surrounded by musicians, audio engineers, and teachers, so cameras and microphones were already part of the room long before I picked one up myself. I was homeschooled for most of my life, which gave me an early habit of learning by doing and figuring things out my own way. That habit still shows up in how I work, hands on, curious, and ready to solve a problem on set.
I care about work for nonprofits, regional agencies, and social justice organizations, groups that often have a real story to tell and limited resources to tell it. I help translate a mission into images.
WHAT I DO
-
Event coverage, portraits, and performance photography. Official photographer for the Albany FilmFest, now in year two.
-
Music videos, private events, assistant editing, and colorist work in Adobe Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve.
-
Camera operation, equipment setup, boom operation, and on-site support for conferences, concerts, weddings, and festivals. Most recently worked as boom operator on an independent production with PEP Films. Learned hands-on at Musiquito Media.
-
Item description
SELECTED EXPERIENCE
A working list of the productions, clients, and programs I've been part of, spanning camera, sound, editing, and teaching across the Bay Area.
Boom Operator, PEP Films — 2026
Production Specialist, Musiquito Media, Oakland — 2023 to present
Photographer, Albany FilmFest — 2023 to present
Video Editor, Bay Area Video Coalition — 2025 to 2026
Producer, BAVC/KQED Climate Warriors — Summer 2024
Camp Counselor, Destiny Arts Center — 2023
Art Mentor, City Studio — 2022 to 2023
Music
I sang with the Oakland Youth Chorus from 2011 to 2023, performing across California and the country, including a night on stage with Roger Waters in front of ten thousand people. Twelve years in a chorus builds discipline, listening, and the ability to work as part of something larger than yourself, all of which carry directly into how I work on a set or in an edit bay.
Writing
My poem appears in Black Joy: An Anthology of Black Boy Poems, released in 2019 by Black Lawrence Press. In 2023, I received the Special Award for Creative Writing from the Bay Area Creative Foundation as part of the Creative Youth Awards.
Community Arts
From 2020 to 2023, I was part of Artivate, a City Studio program for youth art activists focused on printmaking, murals, and pop-up events across the Bay Area, done in association with the San Francisco Art Institute, the Chinese Historical Society of America, the Haight Street Art Center, and Project Artivism. The program's emphasis on social justice, public speaking, and community storytelling shaped how I approach every project since.
