Hello from Atlantic Canada!

[Garbus]

Hello!

Like the title says, I'm situated in New Brunswick, Canada, possibly the dullest place I've ever lived, but the upswing is that the whole province has less than a million people living in it, making it relatively easy to find places without light pollution (or at least very little). 

I guess a bit about myself, I love doing photography, and I've owned a camera in one form or another since I was 5 years old (My parents got me a Fischer Price 110 film camera for my birthday). I'm also a huge geek for anything related to space and space exploration, and possibly my favorite photo in existence is the Hubble Deep Field, and just looking at how many galaxies there are. So naturally my interests overlapped, and I've often found myself pointing my camera skyward.

Mostly I've just taken pictures of the moon and stars since all I've really got to work with is the zoom lens on my DSLR. I did own a telescope for a while a couple years ago, although it wasn't a great scope and I lacked the patience at the time to properly learn how to align it. I did manage to take a look at Jupiter a few times, but mostly I looked at the moon because it was easiest to find. I didn't have my DSLR at the same time I had a telescope, so the only photo I got out of it was one of the moon by holding my cellphone up to the eyepiece.

But now that I'm an adult and occasionally have some money, I thought I might start trying to put some more effort into getting some decent shots of space, and I figured joining a forum like this would be a good reasource. I'm especially lured by the idea of getting images of some deep space objects like nebulas. I don't know why, but I love looking at big glowing clouds of space dust and gas. 

Speaking of which, what actually motivated me to really try putting an effort into astrophotography was my accidental picture of the Orion Nebula. Basically I was just taking photos of the stars behind my house, and while I was looking at them on my camera happened to notice a little purple smudge that was the nebula, and I was able to hone in on it and get some okay-ish shots of it.

So thats basically my backstory on why I'm here. Sorry if its a bit long and rambling. Feel free to ask me anything you want to know. 

[Fozzie]

Hello Garbus, welcome along to SGL.

[Demonperformer]

Hi, Garbus, and welcome to SGL.

You are in for a serious learning curve with AP, but it is one that is well worthwhile. You will find lots of help here for any challenges you encounter along the way.

[PeterCPC]

Hello and welcome.

Peter

[Tim]

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

And thanks for the introduction too, it helps us get to know you, as you get to know us

Tim

[Bino Pete]

Hello and welcome!

[Eastman]

Hello and welcome from another newbie!

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL 

[Mr Spock]

Hi Garbus, welcome to SGL

[hippie]

Welcome to SGL  Garbus.

[sloz1664]

Hi Garbus and a warm welcome to the Lounge

Steve

[SteveA]

4 hours ago, Garbus said:

But now that I'm an adult and occasionally have some money....

?well that made me laugh, it was probably the occasionally bit!

Anyway...welcome on board...

Steve

[ronl]

Hello and welcome to SGL, hope you enjoy your time with us.

Clear Sky's.

[Floater]

Welcome. Have fun with the forum and the hobby.

[Charon]

Welcome aboard.

[Garbus]

Thanks for all the warm welcomes! 

[Dave Lloyd]

Hi there, New Brunswick sounds pretty ideal to me. 

[Pete Presland]

Hi welcome to SGL from Pete in Bedfordshire :-)