Photography when it's fun

A few days ago I had a request to recommend what type of camera to purchase from a beautiful lady that has a interest in photography. I tried to answer her questions and I hope that my info was helpful.
While it is important to make a wise selection when buying photography gear I feel that it is more important to learn the rules of photography. When you have learned even the most basic rules it makes photography much more fun and rewarding. I was always concerned that my photography wasn't as good as I thought it should be. Photography information is very easy to obtain. It seems that there are as many people wanting to teach photography as there are those that are wanting to be a professional photographer.
There are two elements that makes great images. The first is composition and the second is light. Then having quality equipment to capture the image comes into play. The more you understand the rules of photography the easier to make your selection of equipment. I like Dslr's because you can change lenses. The best Dslrs are weather resistant, have better ISO ranges, faster shutter speeds, larger sensors (both in actual size and pixel count), better focus systems and are built to last a long time. Both Canon and Nikon (the big boys in the business) have excellent cameras in the $600-900 range. These aren't going to compete with the pro series cameras but are still a very good value. Visit a good pro shop and listen to their advise. The info obtained at the big box store may not be the best for your needs. All larger cities have pro shops which are going to be about the same price as the big box stores.

The important rules are: learn what shutter speed does, what aperture is, what white balance is, why setting your camera in hard manuel can be better that auto, learn that "P" doesn't mean professional. Learn when using a tripod is important, learn when different filters should be used, learn what EV 10 means to beautiful photography, learn that the biggest f-stop isn't aways the best, then try to justify to the spouse why you spent the big dollar for a new camera body or lens. The GREAT thing about photography is that you don't have to learn everything at once. Go to a work shop, read a photography book, watch a photography video and then go practice what you have learn and practice until you understand the lesson and then learn something new. This makes learning fun and in a short time you will be amazed at the improvements in you photography.
There are several other things I haven't touched on this time. I'll try to write about using a flash, and also go into some depth on the above subjects. I don't consider myself as the best source of infomation about most areas of photography, but I have enjoyed photography for over 40 years, I have studied from the best in the business in portraiture and weddings. I go to workshops as often as possible and try to hangout with photographers that are better than I am. We no longer photograph weddings but I still go to some wedding workshops because there is always good info at these workshops. I view weddings to be very demanding to do properly. I read photography articles everyday on the internet, we subscribe to video workshops. I am approaching 61 years old and have health issues that limit my activities some, but we plan to keep Whitlock Photography open for a long time, WHY, because we love photography, we love it when a new parent cries when viewing the images of their new born, the parents of a high school senior cries when they see the images of their child and realize their child has grown up and the eyes of a son or daughter when they see the images of their parents that we have been honored to photograph. The image of my father that I captured about five years before he died is hanging on my wall. He still had that little smile that he often had and he looked healthy, he was about 79 at the time.
So my best advice for those that have an interest in photography is to learn, pratice, learn and then practice. More important is learn how to buy your equipment without making the spouse kick you out of the house