Hi mja388,
Thank you for your interest in ExpressionEngine and welcome to the Forums! We are so glad you’re here!
Indeed, what you describe is exactly what a CMS like ExpressionEngine is built to do. There are several ways to go about building an online album, with prints for sale. The number of photos would ultimately determine the best path forward.
ExpressionEngine comes with a Simple Commerce Module that allows you to sell items that are stored as entries in ExpressionEngine. In that scenario, each photo would be a single entry, with description, dimensions, captions and price. The limitation with Simple Commerce is that it only accepts payment via PayPal.
If you would like to use other payment gateways, or expand your options in other ways, there are several other e-commerce add-ons available. You can check out CartThrob, BrilliantRetail, or Store.
You can also use a few other add-ons to make an image gallery where you can shave an entire gallery stored in one entry. Check out Pixel & Tonic’s Matrix or DevDemon’s Channel Images.
Using ExpressionEngine does require some working knowledge of web technologies, like HTML and CSS. If you would like to find an ExpressionEngine expert to help you with your project, we have the Pro Network for you to browse.
I look forward to any other questions you might have!
Cheers,