Many thanks for this thoughtful answer!
Me too I subscribe the interpretation of the image as “mankind’s vocation” as you can see in Section 7.2 of this article.
This view is also strongly supported by Pope John Paul II and Karl Barth regarding Marriage as original vocation and sacrament.
And by Popes Benedict XVI and Francis regarding work as primeval divine vocation of mankind.
However in the thread on Original Sin’s Transmission new insights regarding the meaning of imago Dei in Scripture have been developed. For the sake of convenience in quoting I will answer this your comment there.