Keith you've spotlighted a facet of this whole issue that I should keep in mind. The Mission Yearbook team does need to maintain a perspective of sensitivity and respect.

The fact is that travelling to the forty or fifty ministry locations (including Asia and Africa) as the Official Missions Yearbook Photographer would be a very rewarding experience and I will ask for this assignment next time I speak to the Missions Director, but I don't think she has the budget for this. (the entire budget for the yearbook creation, layout, printing and distribution wouldn't pay for airfare.)

So we rely on the Missions themselves or church members to provide photographs. There is not time nor budget to specifically seek out photographs for this project. Nor is anyone gathering release forms when they are taking photographs.

[soapbox time again...sorry.]

But the reason I get agitated is because the Mission Yearbook has the purpose of informing, but also inspiring people to get involved. It is my opinion that a photo of a hospital (painted cinderblock walled box with grass-less yard foreground) is not as inspiring as the photo of a little girl with a cast on her arm. The first is purely utilitarian: "We sent money and two workers and look -- here's the box that was built." The second speaks to the heart: "With the new hospital wing, this girl was able to get immediate medical attention rather than travel two perilous days to the next nearest medical facility." It's the personal story that the Yearbook wants to tell and the faces of those impacted it wants to present. It's those stories and those faces that are compelling -- not the group shot of our own church members eating a BBQ lunch off of paper plates! [okay calmer now...]

N e v e r t h e l e s s . . .

I need to keep in mind that there is a line (and I think this is the lesson I learned from your comment, Keith) that can be crossed where in an attempt to compel others we exploit (probably too strong a term -- perhaps infringe ) others' privacy. I appreciate your addition to this thread.