"As for the original sentiment of the thread, I see no merit nor validity to the views that are presented. All of the items used in the example are but merely resources and tools to facilitate the resultant art." My point exactly. "Furthermore, I seriously doubt that the majority of photographers create their own scenes to be photographed; " Err, I sorta violated that maxim yesterday... by luck I found a fresh iridescent-blue dragonfly corpse (must've froze the night before), so I set it on top of a rock, photographing it as if it were a live one. There are lots of tricks and tips like that, things which you can put to use to make life easier on you. Incidentally, I don't look at myself as one who creates when I sunburn film, but rather as one fortunate enough to record the beauty that I do find. Good photography is more in Christopher Colombus' line of work than Michelangelo's... the best stuff has to be hunted down and recognized. All in all though, photography is still art, just at a different yet parallel level. Err, Tisa - if you agree with what I said, then your question as per this thread has apparently been answered ;) /P