I don't really consider photography "art", at least in the same way I would view an oil painting. Particularly with the development auto-focus and one-hour processing and now especially with the advent of digital photography, things have become so democritized that it's virtually impossible to set oneself apart as an "artist".

Yet I find photographs themselves aesthetically pleasing and, (in an "artistic" sense), have the potential to change the way in which you look at the world around you.

It's all about framing.

That's big in the legal profession. Ordinary lawyers accept the playing field pretty much as they find it. Good lawyers spend their time re-framing the issues. Cropping. Changing the battlefield.

Photograpy sometimes helps you to notice things you might have missed. Brings things into focus. Re-frames the subject, or the background, changing the perspective, priority, composition, and depth of field.