Diane:
Try this (assuming the computer you have is a Microsoft PC) to transfer files from your Kindle to PC:
http://classroom.synonym.com/upload-pictures-kindle-fire-onto-computer-17304.html
Now if you read the article carefully, you will see that one of the options is uploading your pictures to the cloud, which most portable devices use these days. That's because the modern devices use SSD (solid state drive) instead of the old fashioned, clunky HDD (Hard disk drive) like Microsoft computers, although at this stage a HDD stores much, much more but is more mechanical and primitive. Anyways, since SDD is typically 16GB or there abouts, people store their stuff on servers as most give free memory, e.g. Apple offers free 5GB and lots more for a modest fee per month. This way the personal files, pictures, etc are not stored on your computer device which eventually breaks and you lose everything. Plus, with your stuff on the cloud you can download to any new device. So, in short, it's your remote drive password protected.
The moral of this story is that as long as you know how to upload to the cloud, most have apps that you can download to a computer, and then you can open them up -- they are in effect like a file manager program akin to the old Microsoft windows explorer. From there you can copy the files on the cloud to your PC's or Mac book's drive or that of any desktop (Maybe Linux even has an app for it, I'm not sure). That's the overall concept. Once you know what you are doing by understanding what is happening, then I'll let the details up to you. I hope the article helps.