Starting from Super Limousin, an early schoolbook in which he learnt French through the juxtaposition of words and cut-out catalogue photos, the interplay of both mediums runs throughout his practice. He explores the way photographs and words may amplify and expand each other, create graphic shifts in a sequence and, ideally, contribute to an active reading of the work. When taking photos, he responds spontaneously to scenes or states of lighting amidst the flow of the everyday. A strange gravity may lie behind pictures of an apparent serenity. Alan is drawn to the photobook, one of the central mediums of his creative output. He is currently exploring its narrative possibilities by means of his collaboration with international publishers and through the workshops he runs, in the particular the Edinburgh and Glasgow photobook clubs.