Creating custom excerpt

* Forgive me if you read this while I’m editing it, as I’m pretty much changing the whole post*

OK, I’ve learned how to make a category.php file for specific cats, but I need some help in dictating how the posts in said category are summarized.

Essentially, I’d like it to display all images in the photo category, but summarize/excerpt any text. Bonus difficulty, sometimes the photos are in the middle of the text, so it’s not like I can just say “show first photo and then excerpt everything else.”

Thanks for your help!
Tony