<p>How can I achieve a cool looking photo gallery page?  I don't know Flash, but can learn, and thought about a random collage that 'pulls out' a photo that you hover over.</p>

<p>It's for a photographer, so no thumbnails, grids, etc.</p>

If you're looking for a tool that's pretty flexible and will support itself later on as you can just train the user to work with it check out
JAlbum
.
To work on integrating this yourself you can check out
AJAX ASP Photo Gallery
or something like
this one
.
If you're looking for a flash/flex based solution that they can just "plug-in" as a stand-alone product which incorporates some of the features you've described
StudioCloud
has a nice one that has a monthly fee...