SoundGuy, try
this link to a tiny recent album of mine. It is never clear to me what is visible to others when sharing an album. I would like to know if you can view it OK, does it give you access to other albums of mine?
A couple of points, one logging in is for your security and any cloud based app will require logging in. With that being said, I never have to log into any of my Google apps including Google Photos, once logged in on a computer to an app that is it. That may be because I use all Google products including Google Chrome and you are using a different browser.
I am 77 and if I have learned one thing in life, it is that change is constant. The tech world's current thing is cloud based computing, until the next thing comes along. It is kind of ironic because cloud based computing is similar to the old room filling mainframe computers when users had just a terminal to access the mainframe in the sky. :)