No way to add gallery, no way to replicate home page, etc, etc.

There doesn't seem to be any way to add a working gallery or a lightbox to the home page, no explanation on how to even replicate the example home page, no way to even make external gallery plugins work correctly with this theme, and no actual reference on the "shortcodes" that can be used. And before someone asks about the (completely irrelevant to the question) URL: gsommerfeldt.com. The theme doesn't seem to work at all. Is there any place to actually find references for these things, or should I just shun this whole thing and find a new theme?