Can I use the same hard drive to back up my photos and also do Time Machine backups?

I bought a 1T external hard drive today for my MacBookPro with the intentions of backing up my iPhoto library, and then deleting it to make more space on my hard drive.
I also tried and failed to install Time Capsule because my Verizon modem won't let Time Capsule run with it unless I use Time Capsule as my wireless.
That said, I want to back up my computer, and even though I copied my iPhoto library already, I have plenty of space to do a Time Machine backup as well.
Is this something I can do? Please let me know. After two hours on the phone with Apple only to learn Time Capsule was a waste of money, I'm hoping I don't need to buy another external HD yet…

If you want to use the drive for both TimeMachine and storage, attach the drive and then open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.  Choose the new hard drive from the left sidebar, and then in the main panel choose Partition.
Choose the number of partitions to be two.  Click the first partition and change the size if you do not want the default half of the drive.  Name the partition (such as Backups), then accept the default format Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) and the partition table as GUID.  Click Apply and confirm you want to erase the drive.
Then do the same for the second partition, but of course, give it a different name.
When finished Quit Disk Utility.
Turn ON TimeMachine in System Preferences and direct it to your backup partition.

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