Dear forum members,
a friend of mine wants to create a project similar to this: www.image.net
I was evaluating the real work behind. Is it so hard to create this kind of project, where to start, what platform to use/do not use.
For sure, I’ll collaborate with developer for this but firstly I’d like to be prepared to not to be screwed by the developer.
My knowledge: Wordpress, HTML5, CSS3, some Javascript.
Appreciate your advice.
You want to build a site that looks like this or offer the same services/functionality as this site? If you just want the look, you can build it with the knowledge you already have. (keeping mind I can’t login and see what all the site actually does) 
A site that allows registered users to download photographs should not be too hard to create. If you can create a WordPress theme, you can probably do it without an additional developer. Just make the pages with the images accessible only to users with a certain level.