I want the numbers immediately left of each image but they keep going right. I want it to look like this:
1.IMAGE 2.IMAGE 3.IMAGE etc
I feel sure you cannot get this without lots of programming.
Check if the following sample document works for your needs
What I did was to create a frame (Insert → Frame → Frame) with two columns, the first one being very narrow. Then I created a number range and inserted it. After an Enter, I inserted the picture anchored “as character.” You can apply a character style to the number range if needed.
And that’s it. You can create an AutoText to make it easier to insert the frame and then replace the picture. Sadly, you’ll need to fix the picture anchoring by hand each time: it’s not possible to set the anchoring for frame styles.
If you want to know more about how to use frames and AutoTexts, check my free book about Writer 
Open some Writer document. Go to Tools/Options/LibreOffice Writer and select Auto Caption. Select LibreOffice Writer Image in the left upper list, and than in Caption Order select Numbering First.