I went to set my country, and Texas wasn't on the list. Oversight the mods will clear up soon I'm sure ha ha! Grew up with a dad who was a decent amateur photographer and also a surfer and scuba diver. Learned to shoot film on his Nikonos II, then later on Nikon EM that we purchased for mom to use. I shot film for some years with a Canon AE-1 P, mostly kids' sports etc. It gave up the ghost 9 or 10 years ago and with 2 kids out of the house and the youngest doing things that were better suited for video, I just never could justify the $ to go digital. Fast forward to present, all the kids out of the house, granddaughters to shoot now, and a ridonkulously low price advertised for a Nikon D5500 two lens kit! Away we go. Have had it a month and I'm absolutely amazed at the intricacy, flexibility, and sharpness of DSLR. Steep learning curve, but climbing as fast as I can. Haven't gotten into post-processing at all yet. Love the forum, have seen some beautiful work and learned a bit in a few weeks of just lurking. Looking forward to posting some of my photos as time permits.
Editor's note: My GF has wanted a better camera for years. She went with me when I bought mine, and walked out with a D3400 of her own. She's going to sit down soon and join the forums as well. We have, of COURSE, bought all the gear we need to carry our cameras with us on our bikes. Combining our love for two expensive, time-consuming hobbies. It doesn't get much better than that!