Hello everyone! Mostly a note to say hi to the community, any help is appreciated. Please keep in mind that I'm a photographer first and a geek second. I understand terms like aperture, circle of confusion, and focul length. I'm less good with chmod, XSAS, and PHP. :))

I am a new (1hr and counting.) XOOPS user. I am in the process of building a photography community Web site and I have tried a couple Content Management Systems. (Mambo and Drupal.)

I would like to build a site that has:

A forum where people can post and comment on photographs.

Needs: Thumbnails, Recent Comments, Recent Posts, Good Community Feel, Upload Capabilities, Posting Limits.

A place where people can start their own weblog with upload support.

Ability to feed news and content to the front page.

At the least it needs the functionality of this site:

www.photocritique.net

I would like to eventually build something like this site:

www.photonet.com

or better like:

www.deviantart.com

My latest effort is with Mambo, which you can see in all its non-glory here:

www.groupf11.com/public

I'm starting over in XOOPS here:

www.groupf11.com/home

What version of XOOPS should I be using? What modules or add-ons would help me accomplish my goals?

What advice (besides give it up) would be useful to me. What are the best online resources for new XOOPS users. Thanks in advance for any help offered!