No, that is false. And if you weren't able to figure out Drupal, you should've at least tried Rails. It sounds like it would do everything that you describe, but more efficiently.
WTF??? Why does this guy hate PHP and its frameworks? He is obviously a n00b who has never tried Drupal or its easy-to-install open-source modules, which, BTW, include picture modules for him to upload the portrait photos to. It's amazing that this ignorance still abounds in the era where Google and Experts-Exchange provide easy access to technical resources and insight...#FAIL