Well... There's two ways of doing this... The point and shoot way or the SLR way. Point and shoot doesn't cost much and it can do pretty good results, but it's very limited in manual options and you can't change lenses on it.
The SLR is the best, but very expensive. It's worth every penny though!!!!
I'm using the following (canadian prices) :
Canon 20D (body 1999$)
Canon 17-40mm lense (999$)
Canon 75-300 IS lense (1299$)
Canon 50mm lense (499$)
Battery grip (200$)
Canon 580EX flash (599$)
Total in cover protection lenses (+/- 350$)
I can send my pictures to mags with this.