Photos live tile

Hi, these are the options you have to choose what is shown:

- from the huge searchable Tutorial section (do have a look) - I found for you
Change Photos app Live Tile Appearance on Start Menu in Windows 10

and there's
Clear Live Tile Cache on Start in Windows 10

See if those help.

And in general for tiles:
Turn On or Off Live Tiles for Apps on Start in Windows 10

I believe the live tiles feature was removed for certain tiles & the Photos tile is one of them.

There have been thoughts/discussions on this.. and the position in Win 11 is different again.. e.g.
Microsoft teases new Windows 10 Start menu that de-emphasizes Live Tiles - The Verge

You might want to note the version of the Photos app you now have.
Should your symptom recur, you can then compare it.

Note: consider using System Restore (Scheduled creation of restore points is a good idea).
That, with a few possible exceptions does not affect personal data.