Is photography an art?

I like to think of myself as a creative person with a head buzzing full of imagination, ideas and flashing light bulbs. One of my favourite pastimes is photography; having arrived in France on my year abroad all alone, it became a fantastic way to explore new places and even better that I didn't need to depend on anyone else to come with me. To say my camera has been put to good use is quite the understatement, and apart from the sheer size of it, I wouldn't change it for the world. As we continue to live in this tech-savvy digital age, I've started to question whether photography is an art and this is where my debate starts. 

Yes, you can achieve almost any photograph with the vast array of settings that digital cameras have to offer and yes, they generally tend to be of a higher quality. But, what happens to the photographs after they are taken? In my experience, they are either stored on the computer and the minority are printed, uploaded onto social media websites for my friends to see or added to  photography websites to receive some feedback or they are instantly deleted and never seen again. Ask yourself, when was the last time you had a batch of photos printed or made a scrapbook by hand? 

Sometimes I think life would be much easier with a film camera. Call me old-fashioned but there really is an art to using this type of camera. Whereas digital cameras can hold thousands of pictures, films can only hold around 30, so you really do have to be selective and think carefully about the composition before snapping. With apps such as Instagram, all you have to do is add a filter and you're a photographer - what would be a dull picture of a coffee mug, suddenly becomes trendy. I'd be the first to put my hands up and say I have an Instagram account, but I just think that these apps take away the art of photography and individuality.