Here are three of my favorite images from a week spent in Carmel and Big Sur, California, during the end of September, 2009. Wow, what an incredible place. Had a glimpse at about 30 miles of coast over a week. Could easily spend a lifetime.
While in Big Sur, reread Brooks Jensen's "Letting Go of the Camera". Great collection of essays on photography as an expressive art form.
Lately I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be an artist as a landscape and nature photographer. One idea Jensen touches on in a couple of essays, something I'd never really considered, is how people tend to view a beautifully shot landscape photograph as if they were looking through a window to magically view the actual scene. It's the scene itself, not the photograph, that elicits emotion. Thus the framed landscape photograph is not looked upon as an artifact, as a painting or sculpture is, but rather as a window to a particular place and time.
What's wrong with that? Well, maybe it's an underlying assumption, when viewing a beautiful landscape photograph, that it's creation took little or no talent or skill at all. That the camera lens is no more difficult to use effectively than a window, and anyone who was lucky enough to be at that particular place at that particular time could have produced the same image whithout any more difficulty than being there, with photographic equipment. "The assumption is that photography is not dependent on vision, craft, sensitivity, courage, dedication, or raw talent." Therefore, it seems to follow that landscape photography couldn't possibly be art.
I know from experience, being in the right place at the right time doesn't guarantee a successful image. The images that best fullfill the fantasy of viewing the there and then, are made by people with the commitment to be in the right place at the right time (with photograpic equipment).  They are also usually made by people who live near a location, return over and over, develop a deep connection to the landscape, and are sometimes lucky enough to witness and record rare light.
But, is that art? 
What can elevate any landscape image to the level of art? Is the image of McWay Creek Waterfall always a cliche? What about Delicate Arch?
Can an expressive image of these icons ever be considered art? Is the black and white image more readily considered art than the image with vibrant color? Is the well composed close-up or abstract image always more artful than the wide angle shot of the grand vista?