Picture Taking

What are pictures today? What meaning do they have? I take pictures to both immortalize my times with my friends and to capture the beauty of the world around me. Which of these is art? Are either?
I love taking pictures for any reason and I wonder what makes them art. I went to an exhibit at the Frist Center about photography and how it's changed over the years. It was an interesting exhibit that showed some of the first pictures ever taken, how there were different art forms in photography, and even evolution of the snapshot.
The Kodak changed how people took pictures and remembered their family, friends, and times together. Snapshots may not be an art form, but that doesn't make them any less important to the people who take the pictures.
Most often I would rather be behind the camera than in front of it. I enjoy the entire process starting with capturing the image through the shutter onto the film, developing the film in a dark room, and the enlargement process.
Although digital is fast and can maybe even catch more detail than film can I will likely stick with film for some time. I have grown to love the rawness of working with the actual product. Because of time and cost restraints I haven't been able to use a darkroom for some time. The smell of film has become one of those that makes me calm, happy, almost satisfied.
Social network sites like Facebook and Myspace have made it easier to share pictures with friends and family. This has allowed people to come up with their own artform of picture-taking.
Take the "myspace-angle" for example. The photographer is his or her own subject with a drastic high angle shot. The "picture in the mirror with the phone" has also become a popular shot for social networks.
These pictures are not the artwork of past photographers, but with so many people taking pictures perhaps we will have more like Ansel Adams, Irving Penn, or Jane Fulton Alt.