Is photography art?

Some will rush to answer that with a yes or a no. I would say it depends on the approach of the photographer. I see most of my work to this day as not artistic. But what does being an artist mean?

If you check in the dictionary, there are 2 definitions that I find very interesting:

“A person skilled at a particular task or occupation.”. Okay, it is fair, so based on that, a surgeon could be considered an artist, as could anyone very good at something, so based on that, this definition is too vague. It makes everyone an artist. Others would simply call these people master of their craft.

The other definition: “A person who practices or performs any of the creative arts.”. I like this one way more, but at the same time, it is undeniable, and also brings another problem, what is “creative art”?

Going back to the dictionary, art is “Work produced by human creative skill and imagination.” You create. Therefore, you are an artist. It sounds straightforward. Is a musician that doesn’t actually produce new things but executes someone’s else creation an artist? Or is this musician solely someone good with their tools like the surgeon? I also think there are pretentiousness and elitism regarding who to call an artist. I’ve even seen people educated in art calling the uneducated (in art) one, not artists.

From a viewer’s (not involved in art) perspective, a photography of a person or a landscape is art. Because creative skills were necessary to capture that in a specific way. I get that, but sometimes I see my photos as just a capture of reality. I didn’t create that; I just adjusted a camera and pushed the button. Simultaneously, there were so many elements, angle, light, timing, what and where to focus, that I wonder if maybe it is a form of art. At the same time, if I intend to reproduce something as close to reality as possible, what is artistic about it? The usage of the instrument?

As a person who doesn’t have a formal education in arts, I wonder if people shouldn’t define art based on the process instead of the final piece. It would remove the elitism from the validation of the result, focusing on what that person did to achieve that result.

Unfortunately, life is not that simple, and there are so many other points that “artists” add to this discussion: do you make a living from it? Do you want to do it all the time? Can it be consumed/appreciated by others?

I don’t have a general answer to all these questions, especially to “what is art?” but in the end, it doesn’t really matter. Sometimes I feel like an artist, sometimes I don’t, sometimes stuff seems to be art, sometimes it doesn’t. Who cares?