I think our parents seem to have the same views on some things - my father too, told me a long time ago that there is no stupid questions as long as you genuinely don't know something!
The good news is, like Tony mentioned, there is always eBay, or the classifieds here. I don't know your budget, but if you have an interest in photography (and since you're here, I assume you do), it would be a great investment to purchase a basic SLR. The camera you have is a cult classic - for what it is, its one of the best of its kind - but it has many limitations. The limitations I speak of are not any fault of the camera, but simply the type of instrument that it is - you can't blame a hammer for not being a good pair of pliers, right?
A 35mm SLR is as close to a Swiss Army knife as you will get in the photographic world, and is almost always the most cost effective way to enter into the hobby because it is so flexible and versitile.
If you ask here about what brand or model to get, you will likely get as many options as answers - but that's a good thing, it simply means there are many choices and most of them are comparable in their virtues.
Just to give you an idea, you can get started for probably less than $50 if you look hard enough and show some patience (that's for older, all manual cameras with a basic lens), and for a couple hundred you can have a pretty much pro-level body with a decent lens. If you choose to go more modern, with auto-focus, etc., you will probably have to move up the bar a little - but its still possible to get a decent camera and lens for under $200. My suggestion is usually to stick with a majour brand, as they seem to be better supported in the used market. If you look at eBay for example, Nikon and Canon seem to have more listings each than the rest of the brands combined. This is of some consequence when looking for lenses and accessories later on, but you would certainly not be wrong to choose a Minolta or Pentax or Olympus or many others. Other brands (Leica, Contax) are simply more expensive, expecially the lenses, and unless you have the money, they make a pretty prohibitive proposition for a beginner.
But I have gone off topinc a bit. Bottom line is, see what you can afford, find a nice example for a decent price (again, eBay is a pretty good barometer of where the market is at). Most bodies come with a 50mm lens of some sort which won't be ideal, but it will be much, much better than a 35mm lens that you can't focus closer than 85cm away from your subject. Another must for this kind of photos is a tri-pod. I don't know if you have one, but I would certainly suggest investing in one, even an inexpensive consumer model (pawn shops are full of them). The reason its so important is that once you set up your subject indoors, you will probably have a fairly low light condition which will mean long exposure times which means if you hand-hold, you will get motion-blurr. Of course, there is always flash - but I would suggest using natural light to a beginner (myself included - I am not very good with flashes!). Also, shoot by a window using daylight - light-bulbs give a very yellow light which will be very unattractive on normal film.
But, I am getting into a photo101 essay here - if you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to PM me. If I know the answer, I will be more than happy to share it with you. If I don't (which is very likely), I may have an idea of where to ask
Good luck,
Peter.
