How the Online Photo Gallery Works: Link, Not Login

Delivery is a shareable link to an online gallery, not a login account, so anyone you forward it to can view and download without creating credentials. The gallery stays accessible for 30 days after it goes live.

Why delivery is a shareable link rather than an account portal

A link based gallery is simpler for teams to work with than a login portal. There is no account to set up, no password to manage, and no waiting for an IT approval before someone new can see the photos. The link works the moment it is shared, whether that is with one colleague or a distribution list.

This matters more than it sounds once an event's photos need to reach several people quickly: a comms manager, a design agency, a sponsor, a regional office. A login system would add friction at exactly the point where speed matters most, since every new recipient would need an account created before they could see anything. A link removes that step entirely, which is part of why it is the more practical format for event delivery, especially when the list of people who need access is not fully known on the day itself.

What recipients can and can't do with the link

Anyone who receives the link can typically view the gallery and download the images in it, without needing an account of their own. Whether access can later be narrowed to a smaller group, or managed after the fact, depends on how a particular gallery is set up, so confirm this directly with your photographer rather than assuming either way, particularly for an event that mixes internal-only content with photos meant for wider public circulation.

If some photos are meant for internal use only and others for wider circulation, raise that distinction with your photographer at the briefing stage rather than after delivery. This is the kind of requirement that is far easier to plan for upfront than to retrofit once a gallery is already out, especially once several recipients have already been sent the same link.

Forwarding the gallery into a shared drive or team channel

Because it is just a link, it can be pasted into an email, dropped into a shared drive note, or posted in a team chat channel exactly the way any other link is shared. There is no special integration or separate invite step required, and recipients do not need to be added individually to see it.

This makes the gallery easy to distribute widely without extra admin on your side: forward it to a design agency working on your report, drop it into a campaign folder, or share it with a sponsor who needs their own selects. The link behaves the same regardless of who opens it or where, and the same forwarded link continues to work for as long as the gallery stays online, so there is no need to request a fresh one for each new recipient.

Where the link fits alongside the EXPRESS 24 same-hour selects

For bookings using EXPRESS 24, an early set of edited selects goes out within the hour on site, giving you something to work with while the event is still running. The full gallery link follows afterwards, within 24 hours for EXPRESS 24 bookings or 48 hours for standard delivery.

Both the early selects and the full gallery arrive as links in the same way, so there is no different process to learn between the fast early pack and the complete set that follows it. Read more in our guide to same-day event photography.

How long the gallery stays online

The full gallery stays online for 30 days from when it is delivered. This is enough time for most teams to review, select and download what they need, but it is worth building a reminder into your own process if the photos need to be archived somewhere permanent, such as a shared drive or a digital asset library.

If you know in advance that your organisation needs the files kept for longer than that window, the safest habit is downloading or moving them into your own storage soon after delivery rather than treating the gallery link as permanent storage in itself.

Questions organisers ask

If you would like to see how gallery delivery works before your event, get in touch through our contact page, or read more about EXPRESS 24 delivery.

Related reading: express 24 · same day event photography · contact us.