Photo as Art, Revisited

I've been trolling the Internet recently for some current thought on whether photography is an art or craft (or perhaps neither, in the wrong hands.) Here's a quote that got me thinking:

"If we use a camera as a recording device (such as in medicine or forensics), it's [just] a tool and photography is a craft. But when we use that camera to express ourselves and to transform a mental image to a physical one, then it's an art."

Not quite sure what the author would have to say about Marcel Duchamp's "sculptures" ("Sometimes a toilet is just a toilet", perhaps?) And I've seen some beautifully rendered representational photos that would certainly qualify as art.

And how would the author consider photorealistic painting, life studies, portraits, etc? Yes, the creators of these works also record what they see before them (often trying to do so as faithfully as possible.) But is it harder to make the art/craft distinction because they are using pencils or paintbrushes instead of lens-based media?