Stock - Art or Craft?

I think it is different things to different people, for me I think it's an art but I do only CG right now. When I get a camera I might think of it more as a craft because there is so much that goes into setting up shots that is technical more then what some would call art. When I look at some peoples work and I see that they used all there technical knowledge to get a beautiful shot, it looks like art to me, maybe to them it was a craft...

The definition of craft is-- 1.an art, trade, or occupation requiring special skill, esp. manual skill: the craft of a mason.

The interesting thing to me about that is there have been masons that were amazing artists... So I guess it will be what you make it more then any thing.

Craft means obeying to certain rules. Art is about breaking rules and inventing new ones.

Can be both. Art certainly has the mastery of craft but has an intangible quality involving more that lenses and f-stops. Stock shots of doctors talking does not express the soul of a society. But then again, things we think of as high art are often the best from popular art forms like films or opera.

Can be both - yes, indeed, but it tends to be more of a craft while advertising, our main market, is working mostly with images that are deeply rooted into the social consciousness.

I certainly think commercials are a great deal closer to art than stock photography itself. The compilation of those images into an idea is craft into art. Yesterday's Dada is today's commercial. And then the Surrealists are passe. The line gets thinner and thinner. So thin in fact you need to ask about the orgins of the question itself. Life's pretty down and dirty. How 'bout art?