Problems with my MacBook Pro?

[Spencer]

I have a MacBook Pro running OS X Lion. I did a photoshoot and when I was done uploading the pictures later that evening, it stopped working. When I power it up, it goes to the user screen(where you type in your password). It usually takes a minute or so for it to go to my desktop but instead it just goes to a gray screen. I can press the power button and the regular options come up(restart, sleep, cancel, shut down) but it never goes any further than that. I've restarted it by pressing the power button and selecting restart, holding the power button until it shuts off, shutting it off regularly, and the ctrl+command+power.
Questions:
What is wrong?
How do I fix it?
If I need to restart it, how do I get my information off of it if I can't access it?(i have thousands of songs, pictures, movies, and programs.)

Please help.
Thank you
Spencer

[Bob]

Here is all the mac and apple help in one place... Hello, Ask Apple here for free 1-800-MY-Apple ,and check out the sites for more informaton http://www.apple.com/support/ and
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/246...0&tstart=0
http://www.facebook.com/pages/TheAppleGossip/...
http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/
http://9to5mac.com/
http://appleid.apple.com
http://www.apple.com/support/mac/facetime/
http://www.ifixit.com/iPad-Parts and Mac parts
http://www.apple.com/iphone/built-in-app...phone.html
Hey, I enjoyed your question, I have worked as a technician most of my life, I
hope I have helped you...
Good luck...

CompTIA A+ Certified Computer Professional