how do I get pictures on my computer from my phone

I would like to get my pictures from my iphone onto my computer where I can actuallyuse them. I have been unable to do that other than to email them to myself. While I absolutely hate I-Tunes -as it has a mind of its own and not a good mind I might add - I did load it onto one of my many computers with the full expectation that I would be able to download my photos from my camera errrr I mean phone to my computer. I have not found a way to do this so, please, if anyone out there has a solution, please let me know. This just shouldnt be that hard. One up for the droid, one down for the iphone. Please help me understand that my iphone purchase experiment isnt a failure.

Regards,

Castrilper