There are a few things that keep me being a visual observer.
1 Cost of gear for Astro Photography
2 I did Astro photography for a while in the last century
and wasn't very good at it
3 I don't have the computer Savvy for the processing
4 I love Dark nights with the Milky Way Galaxy arcing over head, seeing Meteor flashing by and just the Ambiance of being outside taking this all in
5 But most of all I love the thought when I am observing that the light hitting my retina has traveled anything from a few light minutes to 2 billion light years and I am seeing it through my very own telescope
PS It's one of the only things I am any good at, I think so anyway