I mention to also mention...when I was in my admin it turns out that the problem with the images (the original problem) was because when I uploaded images for my banners, it uploaded the images into the /banners/ directory (as instructed) but it also created the file name like this: bannersmybannerfile.jpg. I had go to in and delete the words "banners" in all of the file names.

The problem with the product images disappeared after I dealt with the banners though I have no idea how the two could have possibly been related.

The admin still has no images and lots of error messages relating to missing images.