I've had an interest in photography for many years and that combined with a love of science and astronomy naturally led me to my current passion for astrophotography. I remember seeing Saturn through a small Tasco refractor about 25 years ago and that image has always stuck in my mind.

In 2010 I bought a small Newtonian to see if I could rekindle that love of the heavens. From there I made the classic beginners mistake of buying an alt-azimuth mounted SCT.  After getting over the initial confusion of using a computerised 'scope I wanted to try and hang a camera off the end of it.

From there, I learned loads and upgraded to an 80mm apochromatic refractor mounted on an EQ6 equatorial mount. I followed that with an 11" Celestron SCT for planetary and Lunar imaging, and a double-stacked Lunt 60mm pressure-tuned solarscope for hydrogen-alpha imaging of our nearest star. This year I have finally completed on a permanent observatory (sourced from the ever-dependable Ian King Imaging). You can see more information on the equipment that I use in the Astro Equipment section.
Unfortunately, for someone with this past-time, I live in probably the worst possible location (on the coast, at sea level under a seemingly constant blanket of cloud) for this frustrating, expensive and yet awe-inspiring hobby.