My Dad was into photography many years ago, and had the darkroom and all that jazz, and he belonged to the local camera club way back when. My older brother picked up on it, and is a 'hobby' photographer....he used to do the darkroom routine, but has switched over to digital in the last few years.
I got my first camera (a Kodak InstaMatic) when I was in junior high, and used it for many years and several hundred rolls of film. It took a couple hundred pics when I went to Haiti in '87, and they all came out pretty good considering it's age and initial cost. I then got a Canon 'point-and-shoot' 35mm that I used for a few years. Then up to a Canon SLR 35mm with all of the various lenses, that I used for my "train watching" hobby, and model railroading. I also used it for a couple of weddings.
I switched to digital in the late 90's with a Sony Mavica with the 3.5" floppy....it was fun...but I wanted better quality and smaller size (and lighter weight). I got a Kodak EasyShare about 5 years ago (+ or -). I've taken many thousands of pics with it!!! I really love it! It's simple (like me), small, and fairly light weight.....and best of all it takes really good pics! I got some very awesome shots of the Grand Canyon last year, as well as several other Nat'l Parks.
I like to take a lot of pictures of our gardens, vacations, and various other odds and ends. I burn them all on to CD's for security in case our 'puters crap out, and I also burn CD's for folks that we meet on our trips! One couple in particular benefited from that....they had taken a couple hundred pics on our Yellowstone, Glacier, and Canadian Rockies trip. They took their film in for developing and the the place they took it 'accidentally' destroyed all of their film. Since I'd shot pictures every where we went...of everything in sight just about...including folks on the trip....I gave them a CD, and the tour company we traveled with paid to have ALL of the pictures printed for them! They were ecstatic over that. And I was happy that I could help out!
I'll continue to use my Kodak Easyshare for a lot of stuff, but I want to pick up a Canon Rebel XTi sometime soon to 'play' with. Unfortunately my old lenses won't fit the Rebel, so I'll have to spring for all new lenses. Oh well, I guess that's what those pension checks are for, right!?