I am watching Art:21, which is a PBS series featuring interviews with various artists discussing their work. So far it is very good. It's not exactly exciting, but it is good. Many of the artist's may try one's patience a bit. That's art for you.
Sally Mann's work was particularly inspiring. She is famous for taking pictures of her children running around naked as jay birds, but it's her landscapes that do it for me. She likes to use old, beat up cameras and lenses along with antiquated processes like plate glass negatives. These give her work a battered and quirky look that is somewhat painterly. It occurred to me that I'd like to move my own photos in an even more painterly direction. I can't do that with my camera. It's too good at taking pictures.
But the technical proficiency of the digital camera isn't really the primary issue. You can trick a Nikon DSLR into taking painterly photographs. And even though they were inspiring, Mz. Mann's photographs were still more photograph-like than I want for my own. An incidental resemblance to painting is not enough. I want that intention expressed through technique and process that one gets when actually painting. So I've decided to begin using heavier digital manipulations and collage techniques. I just started exploring these techniques today, but I plan to begin working some images up to a professional standard shortly.