Aerowhatt wrote: I'm hoping that for my $30 contribution I will actually get me some guidance on how to upload photos to the forum data base for posting. So far there is nothing.
I haven't contributed, so I can't say for sure. However, based on other forums that use phpBB, I'd guess that for members that have contributed, and are therefore in a different user group, a new tab will appear
below the submit button (you may have to scroll down to see it), labelled "Attachments". From there you can use the "Add files" button and follow the prompts to position your post in-line, or leave it as an attachment. Under rare circumstances, the "Attachments" tab might be compressed to three lines, or the "hamburger" icon. Like the first image below:

Just click on the three lines, and you should see the Attachments tab, as in the second image. The colours and details will vary from what I've posted, but the principles should be the same.
Please let us know if this allows you to use the forum to host your images.