The safest way to hire a designer for a photo heavy website with Flash?

As stated above I am looking for a designer who won't rip me off, who actually knows what he/she is talking about and is willing to work with a professional artist who actually knows nothing about such things as web design and promotion. And really doesn't have time to learn. Without I might add making me feel like an idiot. I believe I could, once such a thing is done, keep it up and freshen content but to originally design it? I tried a few designs with Frontpage and the freebie design tools at Yahoo and it looks like I tried a few designs with Frontpage and Yahoo. I need flash, copyright protections, and ultimately a store. Any help would be appreciated. ThanksThe safest way to hire a designer for a photo heavy website with Flash?
Find something you like, contact that designer. Or go to your local big box bookstore, buy one of the Flash Web design mags, find the work of someone you like, hire him.The safest way to hire a designer for a photo heavy website with Flash?
I hope you get some good answers because it sounds like just the question I have! From what I've gathered so far, in my own feeble research, it could cost upwards of $3,000 for a decent Web Site design, then there's the ';running'; of it......the monthly fees for ';hosting'; and what about ';e-commerce'; and selling things thru a ';shopping cart'; and a ';check-out'; and then what about ';auto-responders';......UUUGGGHHH!! I'm just a simple kind of photo/graphic/artist too and I can't afford to make an expensive mistake........ I did find something recently but haven't thoroughly investigated it yet........go to ';www.betterphoto.com/gallery'; and check it out....good luck.....I'll check back another time........ Roxa1timer@yahoo.com
I think safest way would be to put your web project at websites like http://getafreelnacer.com/ and let web designers bid for it, out of them you choose most reputable web design and development company.
The safest way once you find a designer is to check their portfolio and their references and make sure everything checks out. One way to find a designer is to identify a site you like and ask who made it.