Hello from NH

2 replies34 views
zara avatar
Hi everyone, I'm Zara. I'm a game designer/mother in rural New Hampshire under Bortle 3-4 skies. I've been at this for about 4 months so I'm just getting started. I stumbled onto this hobby when I bought a telescope for my child and managed to take some pictures with a phone over the eyepiece. It's funny how one day you can just discover that you absolutely love something you never considered before.

I had no photography background whatsoever and no camera gear at all, so I was really starting from scratch. I do, however, love a steep learning curve and I have a background in graphics so I did some research and picked up gear I thought could take me through the long term.

Nice to meet you all,
Zara
Well Written Respectful Engaging
Scott Badger avatar
Hey Zara! Also new to this and also in NH — Mount Washingto Valley area. Cheers, Scott
Eduardo Oliveira avatar
Hi Zara,

Nice to meet you.  When I started back in 2012 I also had no background in photography. I had never used a DSLR before. The first thing I did was to read about astrophotography quite obsessively. I eventually went to the Brazilian Annual Astrophotography Meeting to search for advice on buying my own gear. Since its so difficult to buy equipment in Brazil due to very high import duties and lack of vendors, I wanted to buy something that could take me through the whole learning curve. I decided to buy an 8 inch RC telescope and an Orion EQG mount. My camera was a Canon T3i. My next step was to try monochrome cameras (Atik 314L and later a QHY163M CMOS). I later sold my EQG mount and went to the US to buy an Astrophysics Mach1GTO that remains my main mount to this day. It is a wonderful hobby if you are up for some resilience. It is not very common to see women in the hobby too, and I never quite understood why. Your background in graphics will certainly help you in the post-processing which is quite envolving. Regards,

Eduardo Oliveira. (Diamantina, MG, Brazil)
Well Written Helpful Insightful Respectful Engaging Supportive
Related discussions
Hello from Brisbane, Australia!
Hey Everyone! Glad to finally start an account here. I got my first telescope (Sky-Watcher ED80) and mount (NEQ6 Pro) in March and started my journey in astrophotography soon after. I started using a Canon 60D and have more recently bought a ASI1600M...
Early-stage astrophotographer sharing similar timeline and learning experience.
Aug 26, 2019
Hello from Bosnia!
Hi all! My name is Jasmin and I'm from Bosnia & Herzegovina, 26 years old, bought my first telescope a few months ago (SW 150/750) after wanting to buy it for a long time, and I've been loving it since. After taking some pictures of the M...
Beginner astrophotographer at similar early stage; comparable timeline.
Jul 22, 2019
The Miserable State of Opto-Mechanical Design in the World of Amateur Astronomy Gear
A new affliction has recently washed over the world of astro-imaging—namely: sensor tilt. Everywhere I look, sensor tilt is either screwing up an imaging system or it’s being blamed for screwing up an imaging system. And that has led to fixes such as...
Discusses advanced imaging issues; author is beginner with phone-over-eyepiece setup.
Sep 12, 2022
What if you could image from the ISS?
Here's a question: If you could set up your own equipment on the ISS to image something that has never been imaged, what would you pick and how would you do it? It turns out that this isn't just a hypothetical question. I know one of the ISS ...
Imaginative astronomy question; author is practical beginner focused on learning basics.
Oct 5, 2022