system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
I think photography takes no skill and should not be considered an art form. CMV

I am not impressed at all by photography and I feel like most people say that photography is such a grand form of art because they don't want to make waves. It is a bit like the emperors new clothes because nobody wants to admit that they don't see how it is art.

I really don't think it takes much skill at all, because really all you do is point a piece of metal at something and push a button, and anybody can do that. I do not think it should be considered an art form for this exact reason. Besides how aesthetically pleasing or deep in meaning something is, I think art should be measured at least in part by how hard it is to do. I find a beautiful photograph of a sunset to be a bogus piece of art for the same reason I think 3 gray horizontal lines on a canvas is a bogus piece of art. Anybody can do it.

Even if one does think that it is a form of art, which certainly could be argued, I do not think it should be in the same category as painting, sculpting, music, theatre, etc. Those art forms take skill.

Not everybody can create a painting like Leonardo Da Vinci
Not everybody can write a piece of music like Mozart
Everybody with functioning hands can take a photograph.


I would like to know why most people I encounter think it is a great form of art. CMV

Edit: It has been made clear to me that the Leonardo Da Vinci and Mozart argument does not hold up.

Edit 2: I definitely see how it could be considered art now, and my arguments have almost entirely been effectively refuted, but I think this is why I think photography is not as impressive as painting or music.

 With painting and music, one has to create something original, whether or not it is based on something, it is original and it comes from the mind, whereas a photograph is only capturing something that already exists.
gpt
"Not everybody can create a painting like Leonardo Da Vinci Not everybody can write a piece of music like Mozart Everybody with functioning hands can take a photograph."

These aren't equivalent arguments. Anyone with a paintbrush and paint can paint a painting. Anyone with a piano can compose music. And anyone with a camera can take a photograph. But making a GOOD painting, song, or photograph is where artistry comes in.

Understand that photographers don't just walk along, see something cool, and snap a photo. They spend hours figuring out optimal lighting, positioning, color, framing. They meticulously consider their subjects, express their artistic vision through selection how they capture it. They take thousands of photos to find one good one, and often even that's not enough. Taking photographs good enough to consistently make a living off it is incredibly difficult, takes an incredible understanding of visual space, and certainly requires as much hard work as other art forms.