Looking for a host for photo gallery site

[crossbone]

I'm thinking of starting a website for a few photographers and myself to post photos on a weekly basis; photos from previous weeks will be archived and accessible through the site as well. I intend to control the output and estimate that the site will have up to 5MB of new photos each week. so far, there'll be minimal flash and videos so probably won't add much to memory usage. might include a forum for people to post comments and discussions on photography, too. since the page will be photo-intensive, I assume I need large bandwidth and memory quota. I've never started a website before so what else do I need to consider? suggestions on web hosts suitable for my site would be much appreciated.
thanks!

[ldcdc]

since the page will be photo-intensive, I assume I need large bandwidth and memory quota.

5MB per week would make 250GB per year. That's quite low considering the usual amounts provided by hosts these days.

You seem to have simple needs, so most hosts should fit your needs on paper. Just do your research on any provider you come across, and concentrate on their ability to provide reliable service and quality customer support.

[crossbone]

Thanks! now the hunt for a suitable host begins! 

[crossbone]

Hey Idcdc,
 So it if it comes to 250GB/year what kind of plan should I look for as far as memory quota is concerned. I've seen packages that offer 300, 500 and unlimited GB but not sure if that's a monthly or annual limit?

[ldcdc]

Oops... I meant 250MB. Your needs really are very small.

The limits you see are monthly. The memory (disk space actually) can't really be defined as "monthly". It's simply the amount of disk space you're allowed to use.

[crossbone]

thanks for the clarification! it seems hunting for a host is more work than I thought. like many users on this forum recommend hostgator but there seems to be plenty of complains here and elsewhere. I guess ixwebhosting and 1&1 are unanimously bad. is there a concise list floating around in this forum of all the good and bad ones?
thanks!

[ldcdc]

of all the good and bad ones

No, and I don't think you'll find one out there. Be very careful of "top 10 hosts" websites. They rarely are anything more than a list of the hosts with the highest paying affiliate commissions.

[DionDev]

you could start off with small shared hosting and upgrade accordingly