When I post an album, the oldest photos should display first instead of the newest. The reason for this is because people want to see photos in the order they were taken. So for example if I go on a trip they won't want to start out with the sunset photos and then later end with the things that I saw at the beginning.
I recommend the photo settings allow the admin to choose between oldest and newest photos for ordering.
When it comes to the stream it certainly makes sense to show the newest first because that is new activity going into the site. But when it comes to viewing an album, order certainly does matter.