i see those links for prev and next images, and a couple themes have thumbnails. but i'm curious if there's a simple way (you know, for the noob here) to add a horizontal type of navigation for images in that album, which could also have some sort of way of moving on to the next batch if you reach the last image, or have a "next" or "prev" button to scroll the images. a bit like pixelpost has here
http://tomyeah.com/images/pixelpost_macstyle_small.jpg

please don't tell me to install pixelpost

That is possible and has been done with the jQuery plugin Carousel here for example: http://alexwilsonphoto.com
There is also a thread about that theme where it can be downloaded (beware it's a custom theme for his special needs that seems not to work good standalone)

Also you can just move the next_image()loop from album.php to image.php to get the thumbnails together with the sized image.

In fact I have a idea flowing around for a plugin for solution without jQuery of your request actually. Maybe I can get that done the next days.

I went to http://alexwilsonphoto.com but saw no thumbnails (album.php page I assume). Nor did clicking Slideshow start work. If the creator is out there....

You should see an horizontal list of thumbnails above the sized image. The tool used is this: http://sorgalla.com/jcarousel/

oh man if there was a plugin sighs ... i'd save me a headache and completely stop me from further more reinforcing the fact i suuuuuuuuuuuuck at website stuff haha

i see thumbnails just fine, it's not thumbnails of albums it's there when you click an image, which i'll add, is just beautiful and exactly what i'm looking to have