Alan moved with his family from Minneapolis to Denver in 1998. The warmer climate and clear skies kindled an interest in astronomy. Though not initially interested in astrophotography, he started tinkering with it in 2004 when he got his first digital SLR camera. With numerous equipment upgrades and many hours of effort, Alan continues to develop proficiency and understanding of imaging the night sky.

Alan strives to bring awareness of the astro imaging discipline to other members of the Photoshop team. That awareness paid off in 2008 when Adobe helped sponsor the Midwest Astro Imaging Conference, and sent him to represent Adobe. Alan contributed an article to the January 2009 issue of AstroPhoto Insight, covering the new features in Photoshop CS4.