I am migrating my photo library from Google Photos to my local Pictures directory on my Ubuntu 18.04 LTS system. However, I was wondering if there was a way to view those photos on a different computer on a different network (e.g. a friend's house). Just curious because I saw this: https://www.vlchelp.com/remote-control-smartphone-browser/ and https://forums.tomsguide.com/faq/how-to-stream-videos-over-the-internet-with-vlc.23235/. And, according to the VLC for iOS app, it says I can stream from SMB, FTP, UPnP/DLNA (are those servers?). I'm looking for a step-by-step guide since I'm really a novice in this area.
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For that and even copying files between computers I just use dropbox. Its in the standard software repo.
You can share files with the standard desktop and all ways mentioned in the question, but just local network and wifi, not over the internet.
Dropbox will have you sharing in minutes and integrates with the desktop and file explorer. Its easy, fast and free.
Yes, you can do that, but you are at that point, self hosting your own content. Your home internet probably close those ports by default, since it is a fairly big security risk. On most occasions, you can open them, and get around the dynamic ip that is the norm those days. Some providers might prohibit you from self hosting, as they sell a more expensive business plan that allows you to do that.
Take a look at nextcloud, specifically nextcloud photos:
https://docs.nextcloud.com/server/14/user_manual/files/gallery_app.html
Now, you don't necessarily need anything like that. A simple ssh connection is enough, if you open the ports on your router, redirect them to the internal ip from your home computer and know what external ip your home network is using at that point.
But please, read carefully on the security issues, concerns and best practices before doing anything like that. If you have no idea what you are doing, you are opening yourself for plenty of trouble.