Allan Krieg was born on February 20, 1996 in South Dakota. Krieg was a student at Whitman College from 1946 to 1950, where he served as the unofficial campus photographer. Working out of a darkroom in the basement of Billings Hall, Krieg documented campus events and people for the administration, the yearbook, the student newspaper, and the Greek organizations on campus.

Krieg graduated from Whitman College in 1950, and became a staff photographer at the newspaper in Walla Walla, Washington. Krieg later attended business school at Harvard University, and became a publicist for Union Pacific Railroad, where he worked for over thirty years. Krieg made award-winning industrial films, and wrote a newspaper column called "Wish You Were Here," about train trips in California. He also wrote a book called "Last of the 3-Foot Loggers," which is about the logging railroad that once operated in Yosemite, California. He married Marjorie Krieg, and together they had two sons. He died on September 13, 1996 in California.