But your 'art' is very much made up by the means to its existence; as much by choice of lenses and formats and techniques as is a painter's by his personal choices.
I simply don't believe anyone who tries to tell me that he has it all figured out in his head before he starts; however, if he has, then he is missing a helluva lot of the enjoyment as well as of the possibilities from the inevitable happy accident which usually makes our day. You wouldn't get happy accidents from nothing more than a thought: you need the assistance of your equipment's limitations as well as of its good qualities. In other words, the Deus ex machina in your very own machina!
Anyway, as original thinkers are even more rare than good photographers, we'd have even more shit on display than we do.
Rob C