Just my own 2 cents worth, after flying RC planes for 12+ years and starting in quadrotors, I started with a Turnigy HAL and the Hobbyking flight board. It's an ok setup but you have to be pretty easy on the sticks and really focus on which direction is really forward while you're flying because all your stick movements are based on that. After lots of flying (and some crashing) finally decided to upgrade especially trying to do some aerial photography. The DJI NAZA series controllers are way more stable then the hobbyking boards, and give you some really nice features like auto decent when the battery is getting to low, and the GPS is great to be able to let go of the sticks and just go into a hover wherever you might be rather then trying to continue to correct for any drift. If you're really serious about getting into quads and aerial photography, I'd recommend a 1SQ micro quad as great practice, something you can just buzz around the living room, and probably one of the best quads to start with and will last a long time would be the DJI Phantom, comes complete with radio, batteries, motors, everything plus there are lots of different camera mounts available. For more of a beginner quad, certainly won't keep up with aerial photography as well as the Phantom, is the Blade 350 QX, great for GoPro videos and certainly a lot more reasonably priced then the Phantom, plus there's no real assembly required for either.
As for the accessories you have listed, I've used the multistar 30amp (OPTO) esc since the NAZA powers the receiver, I also got the programming card and never had to use it, everything worked together right out of the box. As for motors, I used the NTM series 35-30 series and a 4S battery, had tons of power and still a pretty reasonable flight time. The motors are extremely durable and are pretty easy to get replacement parts for.
Whichever direction you go, just practice quite a bit and get comfortable with the quad especially at different orientations before taking her out above water and make sure to post some videos!
Here's my H.A.L. before it was retired for a DJI F550, FPV camera, GoPro and DJI Naza w/ GPS.