Long camera thoughts for foa The Canon T2i Shlup mentioned would be pretty solid. I have a Nikon D90 that I like a lot. It's been a while since I've really looked at and thought about camera equipment...

One thing to keep in mind when you get a camera is that lenses are expensive and can be more expensive than the camera itself. I'm pretty sure Nikon's lenses generally work with all of Nikon's DSLR cameras, and Canon is probably the same with their lenses (someone correct me if I'm wrong). I'd think it's worth getting a cheaper Nikon or Canon DSLR in case you might want to upgrade to a nicer camera of the same brand in the future. I've just always heard of Nikon and Canon as the go to brands for cameras these days, but I don't know for sure. This would save you money with having to buy all new lenses due to upgrading to a completely different brand of camera. Hopefully that makes sense.

Otherwise, just go for something cheap. If you don't care about upgrading cameras and what have you, the camera Shorty mentioned is perfectly good as you can see from the pictures she takes with it. You can sometimes find some good deals with Nikon and Canon too for a sort of starter set with one of their lower end DSLRs and a lens or two. The most important thing for good pictures is just exploring the different settings and practicing. A good picture comes from a good photographer and the camera doesn't matter THAT much in the end. Pretty much any DSLR, a shorter lens, and a telephoto lens will give you plenty to work with in learning how to manipulate camera settings and such.