I was never a photographer before I discovered Astrophotography. Sure, I took a few pictures while on vacations, but it was never serious. Plus, I was like 12 years old. I have, however, always been into spaceflight and astronomy.
One night in 2022, my mother heard me talking about astronomy, and said something along the lines of "You talk a lot about the stars, why don't you take pictures of them?"
My first thought about that was "Sounds hard. I don't have any equipment!" Which was true.
Then my mom showed me her old camera, a Canon Xsi from 2008. She previously used it for her business promotion and whatnot. Honestly, it's a fantastic camera, and has held up incredibly well over the years. I still use it sometimes!
Anyway, that night I set up her camera on her old tripod and very simply, pointed it up. I saw something that looked like this:
Out of focus, smeared, and fairly incomprehensible. But still, there's so much within this one image, which by the way is my earliest recorded picture of the stars.
You can clearly make out the Orion constellation, including Sirius, Betelgeuse, and Rigel. But, more importantly, you can make out the Orion Nebula! I'll never forget the feeling I got when I saw this on the camera. It was close to pure bliss.
Seeing that faint, tiny nebulosity changed something in my brain chemistry, and it's a high I've been chasing ever since. I've come a long way since then, upgrading to a full set of gear with a new camera and all:
I'm incredibly grateful to be able to pursue this passion, and it would not be possible if I had not moved to Fallbrook in 2020.
Fallbrook, California is a special place for many reasons. Aside from the simply beautiful nature of the city, there's a couple that stand out to people like me and it boils down to one word: Location. Fallbrook is nestled comfortably in between San Diego and Los Angeles, which means that the light pollution (which is terrible, by the way) is low on the horizon in both directions. This gives Fallbrook a nice, clean dark sky with plenty of stars visible on any given clear night. You can even capture the Milky Way on just your regular iPhone!
Anyway, Fallbrook's dark skies are what make my astrophotography possible. They even have their own committee, called the Fallbrook Beautification Alliance's Dark Sky Initiative! The people working there fight to keep Fallbrook's skies clear of light pollution by spreading awareness for things like bright street lights, which are easily replaceable with ones that are much more cost effective, and efficient, without spreading the light up into the sky.
Astrophotography is an art of patience and love for the craft, and I intend to take it to new heights. I hope that you enjoy my work as much as I do, and I cannot wait to see where the future will take me, and this name!
Look on up,
FallbrookAstro
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