Beginning photography: Where to start with photography?

For a beginner, the idea of mastering a complex contraption like a camera can be quite daunting with it's gazillion buttons, menus and settings. So where do you start with photography?

Here's my plan:

Step 1: The Camera User Guide 

I for one thought that a good starting place will be to dig out the camera user guide and go from there.

I have a digital Canon PowerShot Pro 1 and have been slowly trawling my way through its user manual recently. So far it's been very enlightening if not a bit overwhelming because there is so much to know! At the moment I'm stopping and googling every second term I read in order to understand what I'm reading, but I'm posting up my discoveries on here as I go so you can benefit from my reading too. What I'm realizing from this initial bit of reading is that it's a bit tricky getting to grips with all the camera buttons, settings and the general terminology and theory of photogrpahy but I think that's natural for it to be tricky at first, and as things become more familiar, reading such things should get easier too.


Step 2: Check out Photography Books 

After I finish the camera user guide I plan to go searching amazon for some good photography books. I usually go by the reviews and see what's a well-recommended book. I think investing in a photography bible to turn to should be useful. I'll post a future blog when I come across good books to recommend.

Judging by my progress so far with reading the camera manual it seems there's  a lot of information online too so perhaps there is no immediate need for a photography book to start off.

Step 3:  Check out Photography Blogs and Forums

I'm already aware of the fantastic photography blog by Darren Rowse, the Digital Photography School, which I think will be a wonderful resource. As I discover other good resources I'll be sure to post them on here.

Well, that's the plan so far. If any one has any extra tips, feel free to share them :)