You really should look at the WordPress platform. I have been building them for clients that use a lot of images to market themselves. Clients love pictures. The gallery plug ins and the expanded images in the blog are killer. The added bonus with WP is that they are built to be semantically compatible with all the search engines.So from day one they search very well.
Second, once they are installed, they are an incredibly easy system for the client to manage and update on there own.

As for hosting, we recommend Bluehost. They are great to work with and at $6.95 a month a bargain too.

You can take a look at some of the different things that can be done at The Agency @ Think. Kertesz is one we developed specifically for photographers that has become popular with all sorts of businesses.
Chris Boulton

http://thinklikeabride.com
http://thinklikeabride.com/theagency
http://www.thinklikeabride.com/theagency/kertesz/