Thanks Alpha....I meant no offense...I think you know that ;-) To tell you the truth, photography was one of my major courses in college, dark room and all, way back when, I personally believe it is an incredibly "important" element to an artist as an invaluable tool of learning, and an enormous inspirational value as well. All art is visual, even written art, for even a writer attempts to stir an imaginary vision of what they scribe...photography seems to be highly under rated of late, unfortunatly, these days...I think, and I believe this may be due to computers and their softwares taking the limelight...but never underestimate someone that CAN take a picture that can move mountains or someone that can create awsome wonders with darkroom manipulations because that is just as much an art as any painting or rendering....it all takes imagination, and art really is imagination and how well you can portray what you imagine with whatever medium(s) you may use. Cheers.....and Happy New Year!