Interesting histories guys! I started with my dad's FujiFilm FinePix S1 Pro (
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/fujis1pro) back in 2000 it was one of the first DSLRs and one of the first 6MP digital cameras (a 3mp "Super CCD" sensor actually but produced 6mp) I had no idea what I was doing, shot only in auto and swore the built-in flash was helping my night landscape shots lol, didn't even know what lens I had on it nor did I ever take it off.
Later on I got a used Canon XL1 video camcorder for school and loved it, became a Canon fanboy that day so I bought a used Canon D60 (one of the first Canon digital cameras) with a Canon EF 85mm F/1.8 USM. I was told 85mm is a good range but didn't realize about crop factors, so kept trying to do wide portraits and couldn't understand why I couldn't get what others did lol, eventually learned to use it as a 135mm and added some zooms but the 85mm on APS-C is still my favorite lens.
Found a friend (another Canon fanboy with an XL1s and 20D) and started covering Weddings and Sport Events for peanuts ($300-400 a pop lol), learned manual controls and exposure settings on the job lol. Then got a 9-5 in 2004 which took up too much time so my Photo and Video gigs got pushed to the weekends

but I started using a Panasonic Lumix LX1 as my "always on me" personal camera and surprising learned a lot about composition. Got published as a camera man for a documentary on the 2006 Formula Drift championship tour (I helped cover LA ;-D). Got let go from the 9-5 around the time the 5D MkII came out and changed everything, so I sold everything and relearned shooting and editing video with a DSLR and instead of getting another job decided to go full pro lol. Ended up getting a 7D instead (friend got the 5D2) been happily shooting Weddings and Events ever since. We just sold the 7D and 5D2 for 5D3s and waiting for the 70D(hopefully) as I still prefer APS-C.