You are on a good track with your site. My advice would be to give it a softer look.
The layout is good and easy on the eyes. Yes the photo on top is not good. Too much red, and it's out of focus. The fonts on the photo should also be softer. Use fonts that go better on photos and the mood you are after.
For the bottom part, try to get a better drop shadow. I think making the photos 4 pixels away from the border will look better. And last advice is that you slice up those images and learn to reconstruct them using html tables.
Good luck.
Kris.
www.christopherkalu.com