Burra, I had created a google photo account and linked to the photos there. I have created a shared album there now and placed all the photos in that album and i can now see them in the original post in chrome. I can't, however, see the pics in safari on my phone, should I be able to see them there?
In my experience, the simplest way to post photos on Permies is to use the "attachments" tab at the bottom of the posting box. That allows you to upload whatever photo you have direct to Permies and it will show up at the end of your post.