http://wp.me/p8gVp-L is the short URL for the Not-The-Official-Gallery-FAQ and unfortunately, in this particular case, using the Gallery does not seem the best solution for what @theelectronicsisterhood wants to do because she does not want the photos to appear in the "main forum".
Pages do not behave the same way as blog Posts.http://en.support.wordpress.com/post-vs-page/ In other words, at the present time, if you want your photos to appear at the top of the photo Page, but not appear in the "main forum"/blog, you will have to manually add your photos to the Page each time.
An alternative is to create a second WordPress.com blog just for your photos and link to it in your primary blog. You can even use the same theme if you wish so that visually they are similar.
I would be happy to see any other alternatives suggested, as this subject is of obvious interest to me as well. :)