My name is Álmos Balási, I was born in 1962. I live and work in Budapest, Hungary.
Photography is a tradition in my family. I learned the basics of analog b&w and color photography and laboratory techniques as a child. My father, a physics teacher, introduced me to the mysteries of astronomy early on. We were frequently scanning the night sky with small refractors, but had no means to capture what we saw. GoTo did not exist back then, so we spent long hours searching for celestial objects, with more or less success, which made me give up pretty quickly.
Photography, on the other hand, has accompanied me throughout my life. I recognized the potential of digital technology early on, so I bought my first digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix 990, in 1998. Ever since I owned and used a wide range of different DSLR cameras.
I have been working in the field of computer science for almost 30 years, and I also have a solid knowledge of different image processing and publication editing programs as well.
In 2019, a dear friend of mine visited our countryside cottage and held a telescope demonstration. The location has ideal conditions for skywatching. The conversation soon made me realize that this could be a hobby that would make my childhood dream come true. I found it a perfect fit, as it combines my personal interest with my technical knowledge in photography and image processing. So I dug into the topic right ahead. Obviously, my previous experience in photography helped me to get started and to overcome the first obstacles easier, but I had a lot to learn. However, the countless hours spent browsing the literature and the nights spent under the starry sky began to yield the first results: heavier-than-beautiful celestial objects started to appear on my screen.
Job
MSc. in Electrical Engineering - Economist - self employed
Hobbies
photography
