Q: I'm trying to update iPhoto 7.1.5 to current versions so I can get my photos onto iCloud to access from my iPad.  I can't seem to find an upgrade route that will work?  Any suggestions?

You are very late to the party - you either have to upgrade to Yosemite and iphoto 9.6 or purchase an iLife '11 DVD from amazon or eBay and update to version 9.5.1 for Mavericks

LN

For Mavericks you need to upgrade to iPhoto 9.5.1.

You cannot buy this version from the AppStore, since the current version is iPhoto 9.6, and that requires Yosemite. The easiest route for you would be to upgrade to Yosemite. Then you can simply buy the newest version of iPhoto from the App Store and can use iCloud Photo Library (iCloud Photo Library beta FAQ), once it has been release for the Mac as well early next year.

If you want to stick with Mavericks, you'll have limited iCloud features, only the Photo Streams  (iCloud: iCloud Photo Sharing FAQ), but no iCloud Drive (iCloud Drive FAQ) and iCloud Photo Library.  And to upgrade iPhoto you need to buy an iPhoto '11 installer. It comes as part of iLife '11. You can try to buy a boxed version from Amazon or try to find it at eBay.  Once installed on Mavericks, download the iPhoto '11 updaters from the apple Support Downloads page.

You're welcome