“This is Not Art!”

Where have I heard this before? Oh yes, about every time a new genre was born.

It’s 1838, and photography has just been invented. The first to do it were geeky guys from Paris and London with a thing for optics and chemistry. The first to adopt it were struggling painters who saw it as a new trick to attract customers.

“But is it Art,” people were asking. “Nah, it’s just a mechanical process. A machine did it! How can it be Art when all you need to do is to press the shutter.”