So,it seems that many visual artists do not consider photography of any kind to be a fine art. I find this very hard to believe. I wonder, what qualities must something exhibit before being considered a "fine art" and why does photography lack these qualities? Is there a lack of style or personality in photographs? If that were true, there would be no preference between two photographs of the same subject. Each photographer chooses what is most important about an image and then accentuates that aspect of it through selective focusing or a contrasting color scheme. Perhaps a limited amount of necessary skill and technique is required to create a photograph. Well, that may be true for digital printing, but digital enhancing is a skill that must be perfected over time. As for darkroom printing, it's nothing like they show in the movies. The darkroom can be dangerous if you don't know how to maneuver your print through the trays of chemicals. Or maybe the reason that photography is not recognized and accepted as a fine art because it is not a TRADITIONAL fine art; drawing, painting, and sculpture. Unfortunately, many visual artists view the art of photography as an advancement in technology created for documentary purposes in the 19th century.