Joined a camera club nearly twenty years ago with a secondhand manual Pentax Spotmatic, on which I learnt Box+Light+Aperture+Shutter speed. My first digital (swore I never would) was an E900 compact, followed by an S9600 and now the ultimate in convenience, the HS 10. Love being in solitude with my dog, photographing the beaches, cliffs and ancient sites of Cornwall. Can't beat it.
P.S. Actually the dog can be a real pain - suddenly appearing in shot like the Hound of the Baskervilles, and streaking across pristine sand just as I go to press the shutter on a long-awaited moment.