Destiny played a part...
Late in March of 1997, I dug out my trusty Olympus OM-PC only to discover that the mirror was locked up and the batteries dead. It had sat that way for some months and now would not respond to any amount of fiddling. I was not to realize the good in this disappointing development until later. For the moment, I was upset. The next evening, after work, I took the camera to a local general-consumer camera store and after an interminably long session convincing the clerk and his ditsy helper that the problem was not dead batteries, got them to send the camera off for 
repairs. I inquired about a used OM-1 but they had none. I wanted another Olympus only because my meager set of lenses were of that persuasion, as was the camera adapter for my telescope. Web info had told me that the OM-1 would be a good field camera, with its simple meter system, no internal lighted displays, and a mechanical shutter.
I tried another, more professional camera shop, and although they also had no OM-1, they knew who did. At the third shop I found a camera in excellent condition for what I had expected to pay. I haggled a little, and got enough knocked off to half pay for a used 50 mm lens and some film.
Armed with my "new" used OM-1, I returned home and whiled away the hours until dark, researching Web sites for astrophotography tips.
April 4: A break in the clouds - The wooded hill behind our home in Little Applegate Valley raises our horizon some 15 to 20 degrees. In order to see the comet in the clear, I reckoned I had better go up the road and around the hill. Collecting my camera, lenses and tripod, I packed Robin and our dog Dundee into the Jeep and we went up the road a half-mile or so where I pulled off into a little clearing and waited for the sky to darken.
While we waited and our eyes became dark-adapted, the comet shown brighter and brighter about 25 degrees up. It hung just above a light blue after-glow of dusk that hugged the horizon - the "zodiacal light". A cloud bank was drifting steadily upward too, threatening to block our view. Hurriedly, I mounted the 50 mm lens, set the camera to B ("bulb") and used an auto-locking cable release to hold the shutter open while I counted thirty seconds out loud. I repeated this at fortyfive seconds and sixty seconds but then the cloud moved in front of our subject.
As we drove up our own driveway, I noticed I had a view of the cloud and the comet's tail; tomorrow night I would be able to shoot from the driveway!
April 5: A close-up - Luck stayed with me - this was a clear night too. Four days after perihelion (closest approach to the sun) the comet's tails had thickened and brightened. I still had some Kodak 400 in the camera so I finished it up taking another series of long exposures. I had them processed and was delighted to discover that I had a good image of the blue ion tail just begining to appear with the 50 mm/2x teleconverter combination.
At sixty seconds, the stars elongated somewhat into bright "lozenges"; but I was getting some good shots! The CostCo photo-lady told me that they had printed the film twice; the first time nothing came out. The operator saw the negatives, and being an amateur sky-watcher too, realized it was night photography. He left a note in the envelope: "Great shots! Tip - next time take the first couple of shots on the roll indoors or during the day so we can tell where the first frame starts, and calibrate the equipment. --Donny".
All the rest of this week the western sky was obscured by clouds.
April 10: The comet plus a rare lunar event - I learned from the web site of Sky & Telescope that on the 10th of April a rare event involving the moon and Aldebaran called an "occultation" would take place at about 4:30 to 5:00 AM UT ("universal" or GreeGreenwich time). That made it about 8:30 to 9:00 PM my time (subtract 7 hours for PDT). Here was an opportunity to get the comet and the moon doing something rare in the same frame. Would the 50 mm catch them both? The comet and moon would be about the same altitude above the horizon (right ascension), with the comet farther northwest by almost fortyfive degrees.
The hours dragged by that day as I tried to stay busy at work. I'd look at my watch to find that only a few minutes had passed since e last time I had looked.
I stopped at the No. 2 camera shop and picked up some Fuji 1600 film. I had wanted 800 speed but they were sold out; a second fateful turn of events.
Finally, dusk arrived. Although only a waxing crescent, the moon was very bright, about three fingers above the trees. At it's eleven o'clock position Aldebaran waited to be covered. The shadowed face of the moon was glowing from earth shine. Aldebaran, the moon and Hale-Bopp fit well within the field of view of my 50 mm lens. I made several exposures.
April 12: Another, steadier close-up - The moon, brighter but farther away from the comet in the sky, cluttered the area around the comet less tonight. In the last two days it had occured to me that I could use the motor on the telescope to track the comet and reduce the streaking effect of a time exposure, maybe to get some as long as ninety seconds or more.
I duct-taped the camera with the 50 mm/2x teleconverter lens combination to the scope's barrel, framed the comet, now in the trees, and engaged the motor. I made several exposures from thirty to ninety seconds, then repeated, unaware until the last one that my cat was rubbing on the scope's tripod! The comet was sinking into the trees as I chased the cat away. I moved farther down the driveway to get a better angle and used up the last two shots on the roll at ninety seconds, hoping they be enough.
The film processing lady at Costco grinned at me as I approached the counter, and I knew I had a winner! She asked me for copies, and I said "Sure...its not my comet!" The ones from April 10th had lens flares in them from the bright moon, adding color to the images. But the close-ups of the 12th marvelously captured the twisted wispy blue streamers of the comet's ion tail, which is almost invisible even through binoculars.
Over fifty exposures with four good images of the comet and two of the moon and Aldebaran; about par, considering this was my first astrophotography project. It won't be my last!
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Nine weeks after sending in the OM-PC I got a reply that the electronics were obsolete and unsupported, would I like to buy a new one?
No, thank you.
Thank you Destiny.