No need put photo in avatar. Can put in profile ("Personal Photo"). Yes, takes more effort but if you really want to see how a member looks like (if you've never met him/her), ya gotta put in some effort.
My 2 cents : I don't need to know how a member looks like via the forum (i.e. a photo posted in avatar or profile). Most times, even if you've never met a member or seen a photo of that member, you somehow "connect" with another member via posts made by him/her and yourself. If this is the case, then meeting that member in person for the first time would be a better/greater experience than already knowing how that member looks like via photos here in this forum.
Take me for example : I consider bros like dcspeed, SC999 and vy90 (as a short list) as members I can connect to. And I've met dcspeed no more than 5 times, SC999 twice and vy90 once. It was great meeting them for the first time after not knowing what they look like (I never looked at photos of them posted in this forum prior to meeting them, if there were such photos of them posted here before I met them). I admit I can be a real SOB to some (based on what I post here) but somehow I think these three (and hopefully some others) seem to understand me and don't mind being my friend... even though they seldom meet me.
Sometimes, putting a face to a nick isn't as necessary or as important as meeting a person for the first time and seeing what he/she looks like then. The exchanges in the forum here really helps in "making a stranger a friend before you even met him/her or know what him/her looks like". I think that's a Good Thing.
That said, I do hope I will bump into Mr Harry Raikkonen sometime... ;)

(old, long story for the noobs here that don't know what I mean :) ).