Very Disappointed and Exhausted

Trying to make a simple photography wp site -jwsportraits.com After 4 F&%*$(#$ days and watching endless youtube videos and reading support forums I’ve gotten nowhere. All I want to do is put a photogallery(of portraits) on a page and then if someone clicks that image they are taken to a page dedicated to more images of that person.
I don’t think this should require a special theme or knowledge of coding etc. Tried it with nextgen…didn’t work. Tried it using other methods and then there thumbnails weren’t uniform..Tried editing the images with the “thumbnail only” selection…wouldn’t take. I’ve deleted and activated and deactivated numerous plugins.. Deleted the entire site and started from scratch.. For something that seems like it would be a must have for any photogallery..I find this very, very frustrating