Hello from Frankfort, IL

Hi everyone, I'm John.  I came to astronomy a little later than most I suppose, although I did have some exposure to the hobby as a young adult thanks to my dad.  It wasn't until later in life when my wife and I moved far enough outside of Chicago and the skies became a little darker, and I do mean a little, that I actually started sitting on the back deck at night and looking for objects my dad would talk about.  This led to buying a pair of binoculars and eventually my first scope. Now two scopes in and a few years of visual enjoyment and I'm looking to try my hand at the photography side of it.  I find myself in awe of some of the work posted here and hope at some point I'll be able to do something near as good.