Everything you ask is possible except for one item in number 1. Frames are no longer an option. The effects are now shapes of the photo, such as corner radius, and animation. Frames can be added using custom Css as well as drop shadows etc. Gallery pages are available in 7.0 but not 7.1. In 7.1 the emphasis is on portfolio pages with gallery blocks, similar to index pages in 7.0 such as those found in Avenue, the template I still use. I suggest that you take a careful look at both 7.0 and 7.1 before you start. The design platform is very different from each other. You could post what template you used for your original site, it could allow us to better advise you, due to many changes since you built your site for both platforms.
Since you want put a lot of emphasis on both images and blogging you might want to look at my site since I also put a lot of effort into both those things myself.
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