I want to create a simple, stylish photo 'portfolio' website that looks like this - http://www.hansvandermeer.nl/ - with scrollable thumbnails and a slideshow, and pop-ups or separate pages for information and contact details.

Creating a pleasing design is more important than flashy effects.

Any advice on where to start would be much appreciated.

Welcome to WDF!

 

How much experience do you have with building web sites? Do you know the basics, ie can you code with HTML and CSS?

It's much easier to look for a ready-made script. Try Hotscripts

http://www.hotscripts.com/category/javascr.../image-effects/

 

or Lightbox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightbox_(JavaScript)

 

The hansvandemeer site uses Flash which is difficult to learn, so again, I suggest Googling for a script. This was the first I found, but I've never used it:-

http://flash.dvd-photo-slideshow.com/flash...ider_script.php

 

and this page from the above site seems like hansvandemeer's

http://www.germanplaces.com/templates/slid...os_dresden.html

You could try SlideshowPro.