Remember when astrophotography meant freezing your butt off all night?

I started taking photos of the night sky back in 2005 with a old film camera and a clunky equatorial mount. You had to sit there for hours manually guiding the telescope by looking through a little eyepiece, praying a car light didn't ruin the shot. Now I just set up my DSLR on a Star Adventurer tracker, program it with my phone, and go inside to drink coffee while it runs all night. The first time I got a decent Andromeda galaxy shot in one 30 second exposure, I nearly fell over. Yeah, the new gear is amazing but I kinda miss the raw feeling of nailing a shot after fighting the cold and dew for 4 hours. Anyone else feel like the struggle made the pictures mean more back then?

3 comments

3 Comments

umamartin20d ago

Doesn't it feel like everything good nowadays gets automated to the point you lose the story behind it? I see this with my neighbor who bakes bread. She used to wake up at 4am to knead dough by hand, now she just dumps ingredients in a bread machine and presses a button. The bread still tastes fine, but she misses the morning quiet and the feel of the dough. Same with my uncle who restores old cars. He could buy a new truck that runs perfect, but he'd rather spend a whole weekend tinkering with a rusty engine. The struggle forces you to pay attention, to learn every quirk, and that's what makes the final result feel earned.

holly_sanchez7520d ago

...and honestly, sometimes I still take out the old manual gear just to feel that connection again. You can tape a hand warmer to the back of your mount to stop the battery from dying in the cold, that saved me more than once. For dew, a cheap hair dryer on low works better than any expensive heater band I've tried, just have to be careful not to melt anything.

ruby_patel2720d ago

Used to think hair dryers were a joke for dew, but honestly that totally changed my mind.