Build me a site?

[jjnnbns]

I am somewhat unhappy that I found out my free site will soon have banners all over (after 60 days) and am now considering getting a site where I would have to actually pay (eek, gasp, lol)

What I am wondering is, what kind of costs are involved? I know very little about the net, but from what I understand the costs would include:

-design
-hosting
-domain

Thats all that I know of. I want a site where I can have plenty of pictures up, and something that I can be taught to modify or update myself. I also want it to be simple yet attractive.

Can anyone tell me how easy this would be to do if I were to have someone else build a site for me? Where is the best place to get hosting (speed, size, cost, ect...)

Thanks to anyone who can help,
Brent Strande