I would recommend a meetup group in your area www.meetup.com to meet folks from beginners to professional to share and gain knowledge. Look for intro classes from groupons and amazon local deals in your area. This is a great place to begin and of course keep browsing Ugly Hedgehog for great advise.

Panasonic G3 has a viewfinder and the lens and the camera is much lighter than a DSLR camera.