Emile,
You need to use a PreparedStatement rather than a regular statement since
Java and SQL won't let you write out a list of bytes.
"INSERT INTO ITEMS (valueType, valueTitle, Description, Amount, Price, ID, Picture) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)"
stmt.setString(1, valueType);
// .. other sets here
stmt.setBytes(7, imageBytes);
Your driver will take care of all the conversions for you.