Photo Gallery won’t map to pictures

I just downloaded Windows Essentials. When I open photo gallery it won't link to my pictures. I click the search button and it says, "Sorry no items matched your search. Try expanding  your search by removing filters from the query."  I don't know how to do this. I tried importing from my camera, but it just saved them to my computer (C:UsersMy PCPictures) and I can't access those folders. I tried adding folders to the library. (Right clicked on the picture icon and selected manage library. My pictures was already selected as a location. When I hit OK, it still does not map. I also tried changing the program properties to work with Windows 7...nothing changed. I am using Windows 8. Also note that I opened Movie Maker and it links to my pictures just fine. I have also uninstalled, and re-installed, and restarted my computer multiple times......please help!