Thanks guys, lots of helpful info here. I think finding a few videos/stills that incorporate the kinds of things I might like to do, then finding out what they used, is probably the best first step.

I am thinking about dipping my toes in the water here and am wondering what modeling software you recommend and why? If this is something I get really into, the goal will be creating photorealistic scenes/environments (indoors and outdoors) and eventually animated objects, all for VR. Learning curve ...