Web image database questions

Hi folks, A friend of mine would like to use PHP/MySQL to host a web based photo archive. I believe it will hold around 20,000 to 30,000 photos at a reasonable size for web display - perhaps 100 k or so each. I expect he'd have a small preview 'clickable' to a larger version. I searched the list archives for help but have still come up with two questions; For the type and quantity of content, would blob storage of the images be best or should he use OS/directory storage and display them by calling the file path? Is there an easy way to upload an entire folder of images into a MySQL db? (I've checked hotscripts.com etc but most of the image stuff only handled single image uploads) Cheers and thanks Kim