photo album with php, ajax and mysql, how to deal with the images, loading with ajax?

Ok, I would like to use ajax for my web photo album. I am going to have a Album section, thumbnail section and large image panel. I am using on the server side PHP.
Is it possible to send images through ajax? Or can I only send xml, string format with Ajax?
Or do I have to preload all the images to the client side. That would be very slow.

Assuming that I have a total of 200 images. What would be the best way to deal with javascript, php, and mysql?
Should I preload? if so how many? I would just try to find the best efficient way to do this.
Hope we get some good ideas here:)
I am just confused, and I have not found any way to send images through ajax.

Thanks for any reply and help.

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