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Photography as a medium and art form?

Hey there everyone!
I need some help with a uni assesment im currently working on which asks us to evaluate how we understand photography as a medium and art form. Could any photography buffs lend me ur knowledge on this sunject im having a difficult time find information.
The assesment also asks us to evaluate a quote by photographer man ray which reads "of course, there will always be those who look only at technique, who ask 'how',while others of a more curious nature will ask 'why'. personally i prefer inspiration to information".
If any one could put forward their thoughts on this in relation to photography/art that would also b greatly appreciated!

This is an assignment that asks for a subjective answer from the student. Photography's very legitimacy as a true art form is still debated regularly even here on YA. Personal opinion, Photography deals with capturing light, more than subjectively interpreting vision, and thus begins the debate. Even though there are myriad techniques both in traditional photography and digital to interpret a vision. People claim Photography isn't a true art form because you use a mechanical device to produce your image and thus you are not fully in control of producing that image. Your talent as an artist is not fully enmeshed in the image you capture.
Any photographer who has waited for the light to be just right, or has labored hours on end to produce an image that captures the image he has in his minds eye knows that is not true. Any photographer who has tested gazillions of rolls of film to get the one that captures his image with the color just right knows that this is not the case.
Sure we use a mechanical device. But we have full control of that device, and how to use it for the image we want.
Man Ray was a very outrageous photographer who delighted in pushing the envelop so to speak and created images that were somewhat in your face and broke many traditional "rules"
of photography. But he was hardly the only one who had a talent for getting away with breaking rules. His ability for creating images that relied on inspiration made him a leader in the art. there have been photographers, when asked for their philosophy on taking a good picture mearly said "Stand where the view is best". One of my instructors I think said it best when she said remember that the traditional "rules" of photography are not really rules they are really more like suggestions.
My opinion again? To me photography is what I make of it. Sometimes a snapshot to record a moment is fine, and other times I'll spend hours waiting for the light or some other part if an image to be just what I want. It keeps me sane sometimes, and really there's probably more inspireation in asking both why, and why not, too. How just means you get a well exposed image.

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