Welcome John,
Observational astronomy and (serious) Astro-photography, are two different bed-fellows that share little in common. The latter being the more expensive route. Few systems allow for both out of the box and awkward add-ons, and ease of set-up and use are the casualties.
Best bang for buck, ease of set up, and ease of use for visual use will always be the Dobsonian. (a Newtonian reflector on a simple alt/az cradle.
Take the same scope and make it available for Astro-photography requires an equatorial mount. This introduces the difficulties of polar alignment, and the fact that the eyepiece can get in some awkward positions for use (not an issue for a camera).
Another quick setup and go would be the SCT (Schmidt Cassegrain) on an alt/az mount. (you can later buy an EQ mount for photography if needed). An SCT on alt/az mount with goto sounds to me to be what you are after. Single arm are cheaper, double (fork) is more steady. Something around 8 inch diameter is probably a good start. Celestron 8SE is good (single arm), Celestron CPC 800 (fork mount) better.
I have had all of the above and they each have their own good points and limitations.
Probably best thing for you is to visit a local observing night and look through various setups and talk to their owners.
One thing for certain, the phrase "I might want to do some Astro-photography down the line" is one that adds most cost and contortion to the solution. Unfortunately, it is uttered by 90% of all newcomers (myself included) and is quite often the key to being lead down the wrong path for the newbie and results in trying to use a setup that can cause frustration and further expense. (Just my humble opinion from experience)
After all of the expensive setups that I have had over the years, I have now settled on the cheaper option of Dobsonian (albeit with goto)