Open your email app. Press Menu and then tap Accounts. Then edit the relevant email account. (I'm guessing that you'll need a long press on the relevant account name in order to get into its settings but I'm not sure; Android is largely a mystery to me!)
There should be a Require Sign-in option which, from what you've written, appears to be be pre-selected. Deselect it. You should then be able to go straight to your email in future. Further, your phone will then hopefully be able to direct photos to your email.