as has previously been pointed out this debate has been rageing in one form or another for over a thousand years but to put my two cents in, the perfect rebuttle against the create from the ground up argument is Ansel Adams. Who can look at one of his photos and say it is not art. the argument would go that all he did was pick a spot to shoot from and hit the shutter release. but is it realy that simple if it is why are'nt there hundreds of thousands of people out there producing photos of such beuty. all the talent an artist needs is an eye to see things slightly different then anyone else. their ability or lack thereof shouldn't hold them back from creating a satisfying artistic experience, even if they are the only one to understand it.