my mac osx 10.6.8 i photo preferences keep freezing when opened

You posted in the Mountain Lion community. I'll ask the hosts to relocate your post to Snow Leopard.

Look in your User Library (Home folder) Preferences for file com.apple.iPhoto.plist.

Move it to your Desktop.

Restart, open the application and test. If it works okay, delete the plist from the desktop.

If the application is the same, return the .plist to where you got it from, overwriting the newer one.