Is there a way to keep photos in their own album without having to keep them in “Recents” ?

Yes, you can create and organize your photos in specific albums on your iPad without having them in the "Recents" folder. Here's how you can do it:

1. **Create an Album**:

- Open the Photos app on your iPad.

- Tap on the "Albums" tab at the bottom.

- Tap the "+" sign to create a new album.

- Give your album a name, and tap "Save."

2. **Add Photos to the Album**:

- Open the album you just created.

- Tap the "+" sign to add photos to the album.

- Select the photos you want to add and tap "Done."

3. **Remove from Recents**:

- Photos in the "Recents" folder are automatically generated based on recently taken or imported photos. They don't need to be in an album to be in "Recents."

- To remove photos from "Recents," you can go to the "Recents" tab, select the photos you want to remove, and tap "Remove from Recents."

This way, you can have special subject albums to organize your photos while keeping them out of the "Recents" folder. Your photos will still be accessible in the albums you've created for easy access.

There is only one photo.

You can assign the same photo to appear in many different Albums as you wish.

So if you “remove” from an Album you are not deleting the photo or saving space.

You could have a photo in 50 different albums, but it is one photo, not 1 plus 49 copies.

This is why you will see option to “Remove from an Album” vs “Delete” which will delete the ONE photo permanently from your Camera Roll (it will be recoverable for 30 days).

A benefit of Recents is if you perhaps did an Air Drop from someone of photos from past 10 years, they will show in Recents as a group at end of that album, vs if view in Library they could be anywhere mixed in by date in the previous 10 years.

Think of your Photos library as a an actual rooms and all these built-in albums are windows into that room. From some you can see the whole room, others only parts of it. Recents isn't a place, it's a list... of recently accessed photographs. You don't "keep" them in Recents, it's an aid to help you manage the images. If you don't want to use that articular aid, then ignore it.