My Pictures working from an ex hdd.

Good day to one and all.Now this is my thoughts on a project of mine.I have lots of photos some new and lots of old black & white's,What I've been doing is enhancing some of the old ones that are of some interest and been placing them in the local newspaper under past times,The readers are very impressed with lots of old news etc.
Now this is my plan of action,Thinking of getting an external HDD and transfering all my photos that I have on my main pc which is situated upstairs in one of the small bedrooms.Also there are quite a lot on the laptop that is situated down stairs working wirelessly.
Would it be a good idea to use an ext hdd as suggested for this task,If so how would be the best way to access this disc,As now I can access my pictures from start menu and select pictures from the library,Would that be possible with an ext hdd??.
Also last point what would be an ideal ext hdd to get and best place to purchase one.
Then if all well works out I can open my photo editing software and search for the required photo from the ext hdd and carry on with my job ''hobby'' with the local papers plus people are asking me now if I would take some photos of themselves and thier grandchildern.
Any thought here please,Or does one think its a bad idea?.
Many thanks in advance.
David.

You can include your pictures folders on the external HDD in your pictures library sdo that you have easy access. See this tutorial for how to add a folder to a library. Library - Include a Folder