And another new boy!
I'm in my mid 40's and have only been thinking hard about photography for the last year or so. I'm deeply, very deeply unfashionable. I use a bridge camera, a Kodak P712. A what? Yes, I know - I've never heard of anyone else who uses one, or seen them advertised or reviewed anywhere. It's teaching me a lot though. It is rather slow to start up, but I'm learning to think ahead. As a bridge camera of course, I'm stuck with the onboard lens, but I do have a third party (half the price of the Kodak kit) tube with telephoto, macro and wide angle supplementaries. The tube also allows me to use filters.
I'm also out of the mainstream as far as software goes - I use Paintshop Pro Photo XI. I don't know why anyone pays five times the price for the other one. I haven't found anything in the mag that I can't acheive with it. I started with Paintshop years ago for painting from scratch - perhaps it's just a question of what you're familiar with.
I've started a gallery with a few shots from my learning curve, so you get the chance to judge for yourself. They aren't all perfect by any means, but my feeling is that that's down to my abilities rather than the kit or software holding me back.
Happy image making to all!
Philip1961's Gallery