Firing Things Back Up Again!
With the recent zoo spinning up over at Twitter, I began to find myself longing for the Internet as it was in the early days of Twitter. I made so many lifelong friends early on, and I used to post more of my thoughts and experiences through blogs and other media. I was recently looking at some friends of mine who began blogging again, and I thought you know what? That looks like a lot of fun!
In 2017, I was in my early days of figuring out astrophotography, and I was publishing articles often about those experiences. That effect contributed greatly to my workflow, as folks on Twitter would read the posts and blogs, and that would kick up conversations. I really enjoyed that, and I really loved it when I could collaborate with others. Life was simpler then, and I could just set up my gear in my home driveway, and capture data. In July 2017, that all changed, for the worse.
My town installed the absolute wrong LED street lights in 2017. VERY blue, VERY bright, and acted like the Sun at night time in my cul-de-sac. Emitting a full spectrum of light, I could even see the colors of the flowers in the garden. Not even narrowband could save me from this. Sadly my home and my driveway sit downhill from that damned light. I tried to canvas my neighborhood to get the light turned off, but I have a lot of older neighbors who are comforted by there being a light outside at night. I get that sentiment. I don’t agree with it, but I understand it. My hobby shouldn’t cause them stress in their golden years. My family is very close with all of our neighbors (like we all have keys to each others’ homes), I sighed, and it was time to replan how I would do my hobby?
Once I tried to cover the light with a BBQ grill cover, but honestly, that was way too dangerous for a nearing 50 year old (at the time) to do night after night. Covering it worked wonders, but I just couldn’t justify it due to safety. Next plan please.
This event really did hit me hard. I was surprised how hard it hit me. One of those things – you really don’t know what you have until it’s gone. It took me a few months to go through the stages of grief, but I got there. At the end of that – I had a well defined problem to solve. I remember a casual acquaintance of mine said to me in a facebook post, “Sad day sir, but I suspect it will take more then this to dissuade you from passion.” I really should have just listened to him from the start – he was right.
So that is where I want my blog to go now. How did I recover from that event? And where is my astrophotography now? I’m making lots of progress, and have achieved a lot to be proud of. I’m nowhere near a master yet, but I’m making a lot of strides despite that major and long lasting setback in 2017.
So let me know what you think of the rebranding of the blog website. I think it’s going to serve me very well here moving into the future. Now that I’m no longer chasing “likes” on Twitter, I have a little time to invest in collaboration, Here are some of the upcoming topics I want to tackle:
- My Entry Into the Sky & Telescope Gallery
- The history of Deetop Observatory – my “out of the box thinking” that led me away from the light.
- My rigs I’m looking at for 2023.
- My evolution on capture methods – where am I headed to?
- My Processing Workflow – YES I USE IT ALL 🙂
- My support of Kopernik Observatory, and a review of the equipment at this amazing facility.
- Dating the enemy – Starlink – what’s a guy to do?
- My worship and disappointment in Elon Musk – Why I’ve dropped Twitter – at least for a while.
Regardless, I’m back to blogging, and I’m chasing a New Social Existence on the Internet. Please reach out to me at the following outlets if you would like to collaborate. I want to meet people, not chase “likes” and not become uber popular making Youtube videos. I want to meet new people both in a virtual way and in real life.
