For a first page I think it actually detracts from the feel of the site. Those red headers look to much like banner adds and i tend to run screaming from pages with too many banner adds. also they don't sit well with the design of the rounded tabbed green top section. it feels a lot like you have just plunked some boxed links below the banner. imho many of our first time visitors aren't going to be captivated by a site that feels a little out of synch with itself (that dichotomy between the banner and the rest of the page, especially if they have been trawling through the masses of links from google. also the fact that i have to scroll to see all of the page can have a tendency to slow down the reader. you are a photographer think about designing the page so it traps the eye......

to most regulars they will not even look at the bottom section of the home page but jump straight to the link they already know is there on the top panel. hmmm I would move the banner to the left hand column and extend the green to the entire page and lift up the sub sections, possibly even loosing a couple of the first page reviews as they take up to much space. I know it looks good but the photo of the day could drop lower in the order as most people are going to be after information not pretty pictures (otherwise they would have done an image search) also having an advertisement for the site you are at doesn't need to be flagged as an advertisement, this really only makes people less likely to pay attention to it. hhmm /rant