Got to be an easier way to get a list of files/folders?

I'm writing a photo gallery for my site. I want to make it as idiot proof as possible... What I'm planning, is to is upload my pics to a folder in the photo directory, and then run a scan to see what new folders there are. All good, I've built a DB backend to lsit teh folders etc... but I need to be able to list all the folders Vs my list of folders in my DB... How can I get a list of folders and files within them, without using a massive script like this:? http://uk.php.net/manual/en/function.readdir.php I'm new to file manipulation, and if I'm being dumb, sorry... Tris...