Ward Photographer

The Stake Presidency has asked that all wards put a photo of each adult ward member in the Ward Directory.
In order to accomplish this we have called a "Ward Photographer". This individual will take the picture of ward member, with their permission, and we will upload. Not quite sure how to accomplish this task. The photographer does not have administrative privledges so I assume he would transfer the photo's to an administrator and the administrator would upload to the directory?...any suggestions?

You basically have two options:

• Do what you just suggested (have the photographer give the photos to some administrator, who then does the uploads and assignments;
• Make the photographer a ward website administrator, which will give him or her permissions to do the uploading and assigning (but note that currently there is a problem with the permissions for website administrators as described here, so this isn't really an option right now).

I'd like an ongoing report about how this proceeds. In our ward, we've been trying "gentle persuasion" to convince people to put their own pictures in the directory. An invitation frequently appears in printed newsletters, in the online newsletter and the Sunday bulletin. Very few members have uploaded their photos. I don't know if they're just lazy about it or if they don't make the effort because they assume it'll be a technically-complicated task. Maybe they only have casual, candid photos and don't want to take the time to snap a formal portrait (although one of the best ones in our directory happens to be a guy holding a huge salmon he just caught!). Or maybe they've just read a million news stories about being careful not to put any personal stuff online (especially pictures of their children).

So I'm curious to know how much resistance you'll encounter when you tell members that the Stake leadership has more-or-less "demanded" pictures, even if that doesn't include pictures of children. How many members will simply never agree that they look good-enough on a given day to have their picture taken (even if they don't have a specific resistance to the idea of their picture appearing online)?

Oddly enough, today someone revived an old discussion thread with a long-term report about trying to get more photos into their stake's online directory. And it appears to have been a failure.

I think there are many reasons why people don't post their photo.
They don't know how, not important, afraid they don't look as good as they would like, etc, etc.
That's why we called a ward photographer. He can take their picture and answer their concerns

I've occasionally reviewed all the units in our stake to see how many people have pictures. In most wards, very few people have pictures. Two units (mine is one of them) have a decent number of pictures. In my unit we've had some occasional organized efforts to take and upload pictures. Most of the pictures were taken at the church building, so those are from our effort to get pictures. I think many pictures were taken by a clerk while people were waiting for tithing settlement.

Getting the people to upload their own pictures can be more difficult. First of all, people need an LDS Account. While I find via conversation that a great many people in my ward have LDS Accounts, I hear from leadership in our stake that they get a lot of pushback from stake members about creating and using LDS Accounts.

After someone has an LDS Account, they have to have a picture they want to upload and go to the effort to do so.

It's probably easier to have a Ward Photographer take pictures and upload them.

I don't know how to call for a ward photographer

amulert wrote:I don't know how to call for a ward photographer

No such calling in the Handbook. It's something locally made- up. Not wrong, but not necessarily something supported.

My wife was the ward photographer in our last ward. We had a very transient ward so the bishopric wanted everyone’s picture on their profile so that new members would know who everyone was. She also posted new families pictures on a board in the foyer so everyone would know who the new families were. Obviously no one was forced to take a picture but it was very successful. The process was simple. She asked a certain number of families to take their picture right after church and then put them on a thumb drive and gave them to the Membership Clerk. He then uploaded them. It works great because when those people in our ward moved their picture stayed on their profile so their new ward already had a picture of them. I think the best way is for members to upload their own pictures, however it just isn’t happening.

wrpollock wrote:I think the best way is for members to upload their own pictures, however it just isn’t happening.

What do you think the reason is that members don't upload their own pictures?

Gary_Miller wrote:What do you think the reason is that members don't upload their own pictures?

I think most reasons are covered in exactly what kirtkennedy said a few posts ago:

I think there are many reasons why people don't post their photo.
They don't know how, not important, afraid they don't look as good as they would like, etc, etc.

I was showing one sister how to use the online tools and the first thing she did with her new knowledge is delete her photo because she didn't like it. (The photo had been previously gathered during one of our ward photo-taking activities.)

If the person dosn't like the picture that the Ward Photographer posted you can suggest that they replace it with one they prefer rather than just delete. Of course it will have to be approved by an administrator before its published

For consistency and clarity sake, having a ward photographer is the best option. We don't currently have one but I can attest that the pictures I've seen posted by members are not very helpful. Many are taking too far away from the subject or family pictures are posted as individuals & vice versa.

Our ward just called a ward photographer today. We're anxious to get updated, consistent looking photos throughout the directory to help everyone learn all the new converts, move-ins, etc.

Those of you that have ward photographers, what are some ideas you can pass along that have helped make your job easier and member photos look consistent and up-to-date? Where are you taking photos? How are you scheduling families? What suggestions can you share about photo sizes and orientation? Who is uploading to the directory? How often do you retake photos of children and/or adults?

Any information would be greatly appreciated and help us not to reinvent the wheel. Thank you.

mprusse wrote: Sun Jun 14, 2026 3:37 pm Our ward just called a ward photographer today. We're anxious to get updated, consistent looking photos throughout the directory to help everyone learn all the new converts, move-ins, etc.

Those of you that have ward photographers, what are some ideas you can pass along that have helped make your job easier and member photos look consistent and up-to-date? Where are you taking photos? How are you scheduling families? What suggestions can you share about photo sizes and orientation? Who is uploading to the directory? How often do you retake photos of children and/or adults?

Any information would be greatly appreciated and help us not to reinvent the wheel. Thank you.

At one time when I was a clerk, I was quite focused on getting pictures, although this time in the calling I'm finding I just don't have the time. However, here are some thoughts that might be helpful:

• When someone new moved into the ward, I tried to make getting a current picture part of the move-in process. I'd get their records, see if there was a picture, and take new ones, if needed. I found it much easier to get members to do this as part of getting their records than trying to get it later. This tip doesn't necessarily help someone who's only a photographer and not also a clerk, but the photographer could work with the clerk.
• Where? Our building has some rockwork on the front of the chapel and some nice plants in front. If the sun wasn't too bad, I could get some really great pictures in this area. Look around your building -inside and out- to see if there are good photo spots. Older church buildings may have more character; newer ones may be more sterile. If the person called happens to be into photography, he/she might have a nice portable backdrop that could be used, too.
• Photo Size/Orientation: Pay attention to what LCR does to your photo. A person gets an obligatory circle crop (they applied this after many people had photos messed up some good photos. The family picture might be a square or rectangle - I forget. Upload some pictures and play with them in the LCR cropping tool.
• My wife used to be Primary president and took pictures of all the children in the classes. We uploaded those.
• Be cognizant of individuals and families who may not be comfortable with their photos being taken or displayed and be familiar teaching members how they can control visibility. When people tell me their pictures taken taken, I ask forgiveness in advance if I forget and ask him again later. They've generally been pretty understanding. Don't make people feel like it's an obligation. I've found sometimes people are in nasty family situations, etc., and there may be good reasons they don't want a picture. One person did consent to a picture if it was set to "leadership only" view.
• Don't forget there's an option for a household photo. Don't just get individuals - get the family. And for single people, upload photos for both individual and household. They can be the same or different. The household photo is also quite helpful in part-member situations. There may be situations where only one spouse is a member, or maybe children are members and parents are not. The household photo is where you can capture everyone - including those who do not have church records.
• We've sometimes used tithing settlement and ward activities as an opportunity to get updated photos.
• Sometimes people already have photos they'd like to use. Yes, they can upload photos themselves (which need to be approved - make sure a clerk is paying attention to this). I've found the number of people who upload their own pictures is small. Sometimes they find it easier to send the photo to me and let me upload it. I don't know if it's still a problem, but at times, the church photo upload frequently failed and people gave up. If I had their photos, I'd try again another day until I was successful.
• Try to make sure their face can be seen in the photo. If they have sunglasses, or are outdoors and have transitions glasses, have them take them off. Also, make sure clothing is respectful and modest (so maybe don't take directory pictures at the ward beach party . If people have a mobile temple recommend, I believe the temple workers see the photo when they scan their recommend.

Those are a few things off the top of my head. Hopefully, there's something helpful.

Another tip: When photographing people look for bright open shade, not direct sun. You want a diffused light source, not a point light source.

I'm one of those people who has never been a fan of having a photo associated with any of my online profiles.
Back when the church first introduced the photo capability for [LDS.org] accounts, someone in the ward was taking photos of each member before tithing settlement. I permitted the photo to be taken, but I thought it looked terrible having only the ugly burlap wall background behind me. I deleted it shortly after it was taken. I definitely agree that having a nice background is important.

These days, my wife has [seemingly] innumerable public photos and videos of me posted on every social media technology she uses so I've been cured from my lack of photo presence.

By rough analysis, I'd say most of the photos in our stake appear to be taken/submitted by the member. They look nice and add a touch of personalization.

A bigger task is reminding people to update their photos. It always makes me smile when members are reaching out for [eg. Ecclesiastical Endorsement] interviews and their photo was taken when they were in primary

mevans wrote: Thu Jun 18, 2026 9:29 am

• My wife used to be Primary president and took pictures of all the children in the classes. We uploaded those.

Caution – photos of people's children shouldn't be taken without permission from individual parents. It could cause legal issues and affect some parents' trust of Church leaders. If you enlist ward council members to help, make sure each of them is aware of Church policy, and is getting permission from individual parents, rather than lining everyone up for photos on Sunday or at a Primary activity for convenience. You mentioned that permission is needed in another bullet point, but I wanted to emphasize that as it relates to this bullet point.

To add to the idea of mobile temple recommends using the profile picture, when I switched to a mobile recommend I actually was asked by my Bishop to upload a different image that was -- essentially -- more "temple appropriate". Interestingly, I actually thought it was a cool pic and I wouldn't have had any issues showing it at the recommend desk. But since my Bishop asked, I found a nice pic of me in front of our local temple, and used that.

There's nothing in policy guidelines that I'm aware of (and I've looked) about having "temple appropriate" profile pics for mobile recommend usage, probably because there's a wide variety of what any particular member would consider appropriate But it seems like a good thing to at least keep in mind as you work with members getting updated profile pictures.

PS: I actually think Stakes should call a Stake Photographer, and have them ensure every stake leader has a profile picture! It make things so much nicer when local members/leaders can look and see the faces of who is on the Stake High Council, or in the Stake YW Presidency, etc.