General Support: a few foundational questions...

hello all, i have a few basic questions that have been surprisingly difficult to answer... hopefully someone can help me out.

i'm trying to update my current photos webpage (http://www.portraitoftheearth.com/nl/nl.html) with a more easily updated gallery. on my most recent galleries on the existing page (ie, "the rockies"), i've had to make a separate html page for each image, allowing me to provide links for next, previous, full size, etc. this has worked very well except that it is obviously very time-consuming to create an entirely new gallery.

i've been directed to this software, and others like it, but am not sure if i can do what i want to do. firstly, i have seen no indication that i can link to individual pictures and bring up the appropriate spot in the gallery. in other worsds, i'd like to keep the thumbnail layout i have now, but instead of the 4th picture linking to 4.html, it would link to the 4th picture of this gallery. is that even possible to do?

another main quesion concerns the layout, or theme. is there a way to tweak this without using the theme "source" itself?

also, i'm quite inexperienced as far as using scripts like php and mysql db's. i've been going through a php tutorial that instructs me to install php and mysql on my own comp. is that necessary to use this stuff even if my server (godaddy) provides it?

thanks for the help!
j