Dear Ice In Space members,
A huge THANK YOU SO MUCH to all those who voted in the Ice In Space Calendar competition. When I submitted my entries I had everything thing crossed that maybe, just maybe, I could get one selected for the shortlist. I was over the moon when I saw that I had indeed got one of my images shortlisted. I never thought I would then win the public vote, especially when my image was up against all those stunning images (including an APOD winner.) When I received notice that I had won the landscape astrophotography category I was speechless. You can only imagine my reaction when a day or so after that I was told that my image had been selected as the overall winner and would also be on the cover
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=93574
This is actually the first photography competition I have ever entered. (Note to self: Do not forget to enter next years Malin Awards and get over your hatred of Flickr to enter the APOTY competition.)
I only bought my first DSLR camera two years and three months ago now. Not long after that I was playing around with it one night, and I thought to myself "what would happen if I held down the shutter button for a long time? Could I pick up a couple of stars." It was purely a fluke that when i did just that, I had the camera pointed at the central bulge of the milky way rising on the horizon. The resulting picture, while technically flawed in many ways, blew my mind so much that I was instantly hooked and my journy into the money pit that is astrophotography had begun.
I now have three DSLR cameras with a multitude of lenses and tripods and accessories. I also have two OTA's, two telescope mounts, a dobsonian telescope, a solar telescope, and again a multitude of accessories. It's certainly not cheap, but I love it and that's all that matters.
To be recognised by this great community for my photography is a big honor. I always get great feedback on my work here and good constructive criticism. There is always someone willing to help out if I have a question. So again a very big THANK YOU to Ice In Space and an equally big congratulations to the other winners.
Yours sincerely
Greg Gibbs
It has been quite a journey. Hopefully I can continue to grow and keep on inspiring you all. While I enjoy dabbling in deep space and solar astrophotography, my real passion is what I first started with- fixed tripod landscape astrophotography.
