You are very right, I tend to have my elbow attached to my side. I'll try moving that out to see if it helps to straighten my fingers. I also never realized how much my wrist was bent until I took these pictures. Wow! The A and G are really bad. I'll see what I can do to straighten my wrist out as well.
Regarding the A chord, I've tried to place my fingers in the order you mentioned, but I can't actually fit my fingers between the frets in that order. Any time I play it in that order, I am either too far toward the head with my index finger making the D string buzz, or my ring finger falls over the fret at the other end.
I've been playing for just over a month. I'm doing self-instruction using Jamorama, this web site, and GuitarNoise.com. Things are going well, but obviously mechanics are taking a hit. Thanks goodness for digital cameras. 8^)
-Kirk