For me the journey had several distinct phases. I am now going on my fourth year of serious imaging. First was just getting basics down on how to get mount, camera and scope to work properly, then how to strategize best way to figure out subs and exposures, then learning more about targets, and finally this last year in particular working hard on processing. I decided to learn pixinsight and it has really revolutionized my imaging. Way more than any new piece of equipment. I bought scopes mostly for visual and have managed to learn how to use them for imaging, (celestron 9.25” sct, Orion mn190 mak-newt, and a small refractor, tv-85). so for me the journey has been more about learning technique than getting new equipment.
This year this may change. I am hoping to finally have a functional remote observatory this year. This could really change things dramatically since I no longer can image in back yard. My observatory is in mountains about 30 minute drive from my apartment. We have lots of cloudy or windy nights so this should make it possible to,do a lot more imaging when there are short clearings. It’s been a fun journey and I can’t believe how much I have learned, yet there is so much more out there to see and learn, even without traveling to dark sites. though I hope to start doing that too.
also a goal right now is to reprocess all my worst images on astrobin, and to learn something new from each one in doing it. My gallery is pretty uneven right now!

M33 the Triangulum galaxy