Photography is an Art

I have been taking pictures since I was apporimately 15 years old. My father bought me my first 35mm camera as a gift. It was a Zenith. I knew from an early age that I had a deep passion for photography, and so I learned a lot on that camera and then I moved up to digital. My first digital camera was a Sony (point and shoot). I was approximately 18 years old. I then learned as much about digital photography as I could. I learned through experimentation and through hundreds of hours of practice... and practice shots, and I then moved up to DSLR (NIKON D40X). I love this DSLR, I am a hardcore Nikon fan because of this camera. I shot JPEG for a little minute, but then I decided to switch formats and I went with RAW. RAW is the only way to go. I like RAW because it doesn't alter your photos in any way like JPEG does. My niece asked me, what the difference between a picture and a photograph is? My reply to that was; a picture is just a reflection of an object that doesn't need much thought behind it. A photograph is a piece of art, it is a moment in time, an object that does have thought behind it. A photograph pulls the true beauty out of something that is not normally seen through the eyes of everyday. I love photography because to me it's a form of art. A form of expression. Many photographers are true artists. That is why I am one.