Er, well it sort of makes sense ;-)
I'm a bit confused about why you need to load an image directly from your camera into ImageReady.
The fact that the total file sizes of the images exceeds your hard drive's capacity suggests that you're not using a really cheap camera without a removable media card. (i.e. I have to assume that your camera uses removable cards)
So I then have to try to work out how you transfer files, from the card, to your PC. If you're doing so by connecting the camera, via a lead, to your PC, this might be why you can only transfer all of the files simultaneously. (That would depend upon the software supplied with your camera). But transferring files by this method is totally inefficient anyway.
I know dozens of people with digital cameras and every single one of them uses a USB card reader. If you're using a card reader, I can't see how you can have a problem. Your PC should simply recognise the reader as an extra drive, with a folder containing the individual image files. These can be 'dragged & dropped', 'copied & pasted' or opened from ImageReady, in the same way as any image files on your hard drive.
If you haven't got a card reader, nows the time to get one. Places like Tesco Extra usually have cheap computer accessories but, if you can't buy one there, you can always order online. (�3.99 from eBuyer, for example).
Chris