Hi Denise. As Terry says, there are a number of variable star observers here and it's a good place for discussion. I really just play around on the edges, using a DSLR. Occasionally I submit early, photographic observations/confirmations of southern novae or outbursts of CVs, but mostly I shoot widefields of several areas of the sky, monitoring the positions of a number of known or candidate recurrent novae. I also 'blink' the fields when I have time. Photographic observations (as opposed to CCD ones) are not terribly useful!
Good luck with your observing!
Cheers -