@eric-johnson – BuddyPress isn’t a commenting system (Like Disqus) so to answer your first question, no. It creates something similar (but different) to Facebook.com (as in the site, not including their external products)
However BuddyPress can/does hook into WordPress’s commenting system to bring somewhat of a social component to WordPress comments for registered members. Out of the box it…
1. Allows registered users to upload an avatar that will replace the gravatar. (if an avatar is what you mean by photo in question 2, then the answer is yes – but only registered members can)
2. links the name of the registered user to their profile page (so that other readers can learn more about them).
3. adds comments (of registed users) to the activity stream (show off comments to friends and gets others to engage in conversation).
Non-registered users will use the WordPress commenting system the same way it did without BP.
But, having said that – If you know how to code, or your able to hire someone who can – BuddyPress was made to make nearly anything possible. (except make you breakfast)
I very much appreciate your help.
All of the functionalities you describe will be useful to us. As for uploading photos: Yes, I want members to be able to post avatars, AND I also want them to be able to upload cool photos that they’ve taken. Is that available out of the box? If not, have you seen a BuddyPress site with that functionality?
(As for breakfast, I’m a seven-minute egg guy, and I can handle that 
Thanks again.
@eric-johnson – Their is no photo uploading functionality (except for an avatar) packaged within the BuddyPress plugin, but – while it doesn’t intergrate with the comments (i think we’ve established that BP Doesn’t provide a disqus-like product, but instead provides an extensible and unique social experience for your site, right?) I personally use and recommend the BP Albums plugin. https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/bp-album/
An alternative is @sbrajesh‘s BP-Gallery plugin – http://buddydev.com/plugins/bp-gallery/
