Interesting question Robert.
I have only had a scope for about 12 months (first anniversary in two weeks). Whilst I have enjoyed observing all types of objects, I am gravitating towards an interest in double stars and open clusters.
I live in suburbia (albeit in a regional area), and most extra-Milky Way objects are less than thrilling on most nights. For that reason, I usually save looking at galaxies, nebulae etc for New Moon at Kulnura (dark skies). By contrast, any day of the month, even under a full moon, a lot of useful OC and doubles work can be done. Given the viscissitudes of weather, work, light polluting neighbours and family, OC and doubles are more practical at this stage for me. They can also be spectacularly beautiful, especially with colour contrasts.
E.g last night, I spotted Herschell 114 (NGC 2539) for the first time - it has a good cluster of approx mag 10 stars with a gorgeous ripe bright lemon star approx. mag 7 (perhaps a foreground star). Wow! That makes far more of an impact on me than contorting / blinking my eyes in a desparate effort to detect the presence of a galaxy that might be there!
I take my hat off to all the folk on this forum who are into imaging. For me, it removes me too much from the thrill of direct observation with my eyes. I have no interest in sitting at a computer for hours processing images. I'd rather just log onto the Hubble website if I want to see pretty photos!
I guess the
raison d'etre for me in all of this is having an experience of the cosmos, and I don't think I'd have that through imaging.