How to get started with photography?
eznet: Well, I am far from an authority or expert, but really all it takes is getting a half decent camera with a hand full of manual settings, a half decent tripod and start clicking.  Click a lot.  Luckily with a digital camera and a 2GB memory card, you can click until your finger is sore and all you have spent is time.  You will learn a LOT from doing just this.  Play with macros and landscapes, day and night, still and action - just shoot.  Load em up in Gimp or Photoshop and go to town (might I suggest playing with Shadows and Highlights (PS) to get some instant gratification).Since you say that you have been interested for a year, but have not taken the steps to start, I definitely would not recommending running out and snatching up a thousand dollar camera - for all you currently know, you might not like the process as much as you do the idea.  I can personally recommend the Canon S3 IS as a decent entry level point and shoot with some nice manual settings for under 300 bones - I bought this camera a couple years ago, so if anyone knows a better comparable inexpensive one, by all means chime in.  First thing you will want to do is get the CHDK AllBest hacked firmware and familiarize yourself with it - it lets you do a LOT with the camera that the default Canon firmware will not.  As a bonus, it will not hurt your camera or replace your Canon firmware - just turn it back off and on and you are back to normal (see CHDK website).My next camera will hopefully be a Nikon D300, but I definitely would not run out and grab one as a starter.  You want something that has some nice automatic functions as well as the manual options - without this, it will be easy to get discouraged.Also, a fun thing that will whet your appetite is to grab the aforementioned tripod, set your CHDK settings to take multiple exposures of the exact same thing and load them up in PhotoMatix (Mac/Win) or Qtpfs (Linux - I use this).  HDRs can be really fun to work with and you can get some interesting pictures with the modern HDR programs (they do the leg work for the lazy.. coughmyselfcough).Like I said, I am not a pro, just a dude who likes to take lots of pictures.  Get bored, check out some of my pics I am most proud of:
http://flickr.com/photos/mattezell/sets/72157601781859375/
http://flickr.com/photos/mattezell/sets/72157605580120812/