i agree with stolzyboy, there's no better way to learn, than to learn 🙂 besides, creating a flat site for what your saying is super easy! html only. after that it's a few quick changes (or maybe not so quick) and suddenly your head is hurting and your stuck on 1 solid problem. it's easy for someone to answer a code problem on here, and you learn way more than you ever thought you would. it wouldn't be hard to build php wise either, you just gotta want to get your hands messy!
however, seeming how it is almost always better to reuse code then build from scrath, i suggest looking around for some simplistic code that does some of what you want as a foot hold, go over the code, and change what you need to, and build up. a great way to find a place is GOOGLE! =) search for php source code or php gallery or some combination of what you are looking for. g00d luck! - Froz