Can I move an iPhoto event from Mac to Mac?

Question

My wife and I both have MacBooks with our own iPhoto libraries. Although we each have our own photos in our libraries, there are times when we both want the same photos in our library. Sometimes we simply each download the photos from the camera and do our own thing in our separate libraries. But there are times when we are traveling with the camera and just one MacBook and we'll download photos into events and edit them. When we get home, we often want to move these photos (usually edited and nicely organized into events) to the other MacBook. I've been exporting the photos to a temporary folder, transferring them to the other MacBook over our network or using Firewire, and then importing them into iPhoto on the other MacBook.
Is there a way to move an iPhoto event from one MacBook to another? If so, will it bring the "original" (prior to being edited photos) as well as the edited versions? I understand the whole non-destructive editing thing.
I've looked in Finder, opened iPhoto Library with "Show Package Contents", and noticed that there are folders for each year that I have photos (e.g. 1999, 2000, 2001, etc.), and in each year folder there seems to be a folder for each event. In the event folders are the .jpg files. I was thinking that perhaps I could just copy the event folder from one MacBook to the other (placing it in the same place in the "year" folder), but I wasn't sure if this would screw up the iPhoto database that I drop them into. I'm pretty sure that the "importing" process of getting photos into iPhoto involves more than just dropping photos in a folder.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Welcome to the Apple Discussions. Use iPhoto Library Manager as Terence suggested. It would work like this .
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto (iPhoto.Library for iPhoto 5 and earlier) database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger or later), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 6 and 7 libraries and Tiger and Leopard. Just put the application in the Dock and click on it whenever you want to backup the dB file. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.
Note: There's now an Automator backup application for iPhoto 5 that will work with Tiger or Leopard.