Maybe not for photos
I read a developer's comments of one of those apps, and they explained that the permission was needed for accessing the flash of the camera or even to check if the camera has a flash. I could believe that Android permissions are not fine grained enough to say "I need access to only the flash of the camera".
Now, the GPS thing is different, but maybe it adds a "Batman" symbol if you happen to be in Batman jurisdiction. I don't really care if they want GPS for a free app. The one I try to avoid is phone contacts because it is no longer just affecting my privacy but the people I have contact with. I would not want to subject someone else to unsolicited sms or phone calls because of a free app.
