Welcome to the forum, Sarah.
Sam is right. If you're serious about studying photography, this probably is not the best forum for your learning/growing though there are a couple of pros/semi-pros (and a few of us wannabe's

) who drop by now and then. Still, if you're also interested in home theater (and the cinema), then this could certainly be a nice hangout for more casual gear-and-photography chat -- the more serious forums can sometimes get a bit too stuffy, etc, if they're your only outlet for this, though some are definitely more balanced like the PotN that Sam suggested. Anyway, that's how I look at it myself.
BTW, do you have some samples of your work on the web that you can share w/ us? Would love to see some...
_Man_