Vacation Time with the Nifty Fifty

Something To Look Forward To

Things have been quite busy for me lately but one thing we've always prioritized as a family is getting away for a week or two every summer together.  This year, my wife booked us a cottage in the Northern village of Kopalino, Poland which sits a little over a mile away from the Baltic Sea.

I love being around the water so I was already pretty excited about getting away.  But imagine my enthusiasm when I discovered that Kopalino is located in a Bortle 4 zone.  This is a significantly darker location than where I am used to shooting, so I need to make the most of this opportunity - skies willing.

That is why I decided to take the plunge and go ahead and purchase my first new lens.  For this, I went with the very affordable Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM.  Now, before we hit the road, I have a couple of days to get out and learn how to use it.

Curse You Light Pollution - Deneb 06/28/21

Let's Try Something New

I was sorely tempted to take another crack at Cassiopeia having been blessed with clear skies.  But with what I had learned the previous night, I was eager to try something new so I thought I'd see what I could catch around the constellation Cygnus and more specifically, its bright star Deneb.

New challenges, new problems.  Generally speaking, this imaging session went a lot more smoothly than the previous one.  The results were a lot a better as well.  However, I got my first taste of the pernicious nature of light pollution.  Curse you light pollution!

 

 

 

 

Living Up to Low Expectations - Cassiopiea 06/27/21

When Failure is a Brilliant Outcome

I've wrapped up my first night of shooting and I'm delighted to say that I didn't let myself down as I was able to produce a picture that is about as pleasant to look at as dog-barf.  It was an absolute comedy of errors but as I like to remind myself, nobody ever learned anything from success.  And let me tell you, I learned a whole lot tonight.  

Kidding aside (kind of anyway), I had a great time out with my son.  And rather than be in any way discouraged by my results, I'm more eager to get back on that horse and try again.  When you live up to low expectations, it can only get better from here.  Let me share a few of the many things that I learned.

First Night - High Excitement, Low Expectations

Getting Ready for My First Shoot

I've been around long enough to have learned that despite my best efforts, I'm not going to produce a high-quality photo my first night out.  Heck, I'll be thrilled if I can even get good focus.

Point is, it's more about climbing up a pretty steep learning curve at this point than producing quality photos (by my standards).  So I'm not going to put any undue pressure on myself and I'm simply going to strive to learn something new.  In fact, that's pretty much going to be my goal for the foreseeable future.  If I can discover something new each time I go out, then I've made progress.

So it's time to get ready for my first night's shoot and while I'm really excited, I'm keeping rather low expectations.  But here's how I've prepared.

 

 

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

Why Astrophotography? 

I've always been fascinated with outer space.  There's just something about looking up and standing in awe of the beauty and vastness of it all.  It's inspiring.  Even the Psalmist declares, "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands."  So it's no wonder we experience that pull to learn more and see more of the heavens around us.  We're all curious explorers in this regard.

But exploring the heavens from our little perch here on Earth is not an inexpensive proposition.  However, advances in technology over the past decade have dramatically improved our access to this hobby and lowered entrance costs.  Nonetheless, it's still not cheap.  Therefore it's necessary to formulate a strategy whereby I can embark on this amazing journey without selling the house and starving my family.  I love it when a plan comes together.