Ordering the MacBook Pro – have a few questions:

8 – Core or 6-Core?
Depends obviously on what you’ll be using your computer for. In your case, being a very heavy Photos user, if you decide to migrate over the Lightroom (an Adobe product for professionals) then having 8 cores would make more sense. So if you feel frustrated with Photos and are looking for an alternative down the road, go 8 cores. It will set you up for Lightroom in the future. Otherwise, 6 is just fine.

4.8GHz or 5Ghz?
I wouldn’t bother paying for a speed bump.

Memory – 16 or 32?
Basically same answer as the 6/8 corse question but in my opinion, not as important. 16 is a great amount.

Graphics – nothing correct?
Correct. Don’t invest in a higher GPU.

Storage – looks like 2TB is $400 (sounds like it has come down) – 4TB is $1,000
Watch the announcements due on Nov 10. But I’d lean toward as much storage as you can afford. I hate that Apple charges so much for SSDs but this is the primary category that I would invest the most in. On board storage is king.

Understand no pre-installed software?
yes. Don’t bother with preinstalled software. You can buy whatever you want later and there are less complications.