Here is what I ended up doing based on @gdaniel’s suggestion:
AJAX call:
$('.btn').click(function() {
$.ajax({
url:"<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/inc/galleries.php",
type: 'POST',
data: {postID: '<?=$post->ID;?>', galleryCategory: $(this).attr("data-content")},
success: function(resp) {
$('#photos').append(resp);
}
});
});
And here is my PHP file:
<?php
require('../../../../wp-load.php');
$postid = $_POST['postID'];
$galcat = $_POST['galleryCategory'];
?>
<div class="photos" id="$galcat">
<h1><?php echo $galcat; ?> Photos</h1>
<?php if( have_rows($galcat,$postid) ): ?>
<?php while( have_rows($galcat,$postid) ): the_row();
// vars
$photo = get_sub_field('photos');
?>
<div class="image"><img src="https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/156199/<?php echo $photo["sizes']['gallery-thumb']; ?>" alt="https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/156199/<?php echo $photo["alt']; ?>" /></div>
<?php endwhile; ?>
<?php endif; ?>
</div>