Can photography be art?

If a tree falls in the forest...

I do.

I've never been able to draw, compose music, or write fiction to any level above that of a 1st grader. I haven't read a fiction book since I was forced to read "the classics" in the 10th and 1th grades, because I find them absolutely mind numbing. When I go to art museums, I generally find about 99% of the pieces there to be things I'd be fine to put into the dumpster. Many of the so-called "greats" of photography never produced a single picture that I like, or just one or two.

How would you describe that?

A tape recorder is not an artist. The person recording a performance may be an artist collaborating with the performer in producing a lasting work of art.

By my good fortune, I have a couple of friends who are both professional sound engineers and professional musicians. They are craftsman and artist in both professions in their view and in mine as well. But, you're entitled to your own viewpoint.

People are interested in different things and that makes life all the more interesting.

I would describe that as unfortunate. But it's not my life, it's yours.

If it doesn't, why are people in this thread defending it?

Time moves in one direction, and the older I get the faster it seems to go. lol
To attempt to answer @sybersitizen’s big question: What is photography?

Well, for one, photography can stop time (kinda)… how’s that for a neat trick.
Nearly all of my kin are deceased, and it’s truly wonderful to look back at many decades of old photographs.

My mom was a prolific shooter of 35mm slide-film all through the 1950s - 1980s
I may never catalog them all… alas.

Scan those slides quickly. Don't let them fade to nothingness.

But would you think that's a sign of artistic talent?

I was struggling for appropriate words to this effect myself. I would add also that I would be a much sadder person if I lived in a world without Art — if I wasn’t open even to Art that I didn’t get, or particularly enjoy — and many days I don’t have a lot of margin in that department.

But if you’re all good it’s not my place to say otherwise.

Sounds like you're bored by art. I once knew someone who defined boredom as hostility without enthusiasm. I'll bet you could find talent within yourself that you don't know about, but it would take motivation and hard work.

I don't live in a world without art. I love music, just that most of it is stuff most of you have never heard of. I have art in my house. It's just not anything you'd ever find in an art museum or at an art festival. Most of what is considered the greatest art of all time does absolutely nothing for me, and most of what I like does little for other people. But I have a lot of my own photographs hanging in my house and I have a lot of photographs I like, even a few I didn't take (mostly from Hubble and NASA, though).

For me, any image that is not intended to be a documentary version of the scene can be classified as an artistic version of the scene.

How good/nice/pleasing to the eyes the artistic version might be is a different topic altogether.

Expressing a viewpoint about what you consider to be art is neither a defense or an attack. It's simply an individual response.

I don't think anyone has "defended" photography any more than I believe that you have attacked photography in a way requiring it to be defended.

We're just sharing how we see the world from our individual vantage point and our views are our own. I'm not trying to convince you that you're wrong by sharing my own thoughts on the subject. We all have your own life experiences, thoughts and feelings which are different from others shaping our point of view.

How do you decide if it's documentary or not?

Here's a picture I took of the Library of Congress. Documentary? I did choose the focal length (9mm on crop).

@LeeJay should be banned for disrespecting the artform so badly. Can I at least block this person? Doubt I need their opinion much if it's just gonna be a total slap in the face to what I'm out here doing day in and day out, exploring new things to do in photography whenever and however I can.

I could rant a lot more but there's no point in making myself angrier or getting tossed for rampant name calling.

A lot of art is not readily approachable and takes effort and learning to appreciate. I'm thinking especially of

Some jazz music.
Some abstract art.
A lot of 20th and 21st century orchestral music.
Some photography.

That doesn't mean that it can't be rewarding for those who take the time and trouble to educate themselves.

I make judgements regarding art and artists solely for myself and am happy to let others do the same. Personally, I think the world would could use more energy being expended on creating and less on criticizing, but that's just me.

Reading a number of your posts I am inclined to agree that you are not an artist. You seem to have put art and photography into constricted little boxes they are not allowed to wander outside of.

In my experience, that is not how artists think, or how art works.