Not sure I follow the question. How is what you are suggesting different from attaching a photo to a thread. That uploads it to the uploads directory as configured in threads. And there is a mod to display it in the post.
Have you seen
www.photopost.com which integrates with threads - it creates thumbnail images, albums, ratings and comments on posts. Uses the user database from within threads - so the integration is pretty seamless.
We'll have a working integrated demo soon here - once we upgrade to 6.3.
