Having taught over 6,000 people art, from high schoolers through college students to the elderly, it is evident that some "have it" and some don't. Doesn't mean too much, as a person working hard within the bounds of his talents and his appropriate profession will likely succeed.
It is sad to see an extremely talented person who is too lazy to achieve much or a modestly talented person who dreams of succeeding at a level unobtainable. Play within your game, and you will enjoy life and succeed.

I started out with very little, and inexpensive equipment. I do not even now have lots of money to spend on expensive "up to speed" lenses or gadgets. When i was a beginner, i accomplished things with my little Oly compact and cardboard tubes, or reversing lenses, or even using rocks and leaves to steady my camera to get a shot! Had a number of compliments that encouraged me at the time to forge onward and upward, and i appreciate that very much. Most of them were "you took THIS shot with THAT camera?" Then i bought a few things that made it so i wouldn't HAVE to use a cardboard tube, rocks, glue, chewing gum, etc. Very convenient! To make a long story short, even though some of these saved me work, i missed being creative with my "inferior" equipment. No, i didn't go back from my 7D and 50D to the little Oly compact i used at the first, but there's still something that turns me on about having to be creative with what i'm using, i.e. going ouside the bounds or limits of what i'm presently using to create good images. I think that involves "artistry" to a degree; the ability to take what you have and create something that some think you shouldn't be able to, or to create a mistake into something beautiful!
If i were working with another medium such as oil paints or clay, i would be able to use my hands to manipulate my "mistakes" into beauty. A camera and photo equipment is more difficult that way because you can't mold it or shove it around unless you're into Photoshop heavily. That being said, there are a lot of thin lines of definition between art and craft. I don't want to destroy creativity by buying so much equipment that it does everything for me and destroys creativity. Keeping your sense of creativity without being overcome by technical buzz is a SKILL in itself!
We all have to find our own definitions and boundaries as to whether and to what degree we want to be an artist or craftsman. There are some artists who don't have the gift of working with craftsmans tools, and there are some craftsmen who are unable to work outside a straight line. It's good to be able to do some of both to accomplish good photography. Some do their own printing or mounting, etc., some don't. A craftsman might get into printing more than some one who wants or needs to be an artist. Both have their talents and gifts.
I could go on with this for a very long time, but i will wrap it up with the statement that artistry and craftsmanship are subjective to the individual. There is a variety of balances according to you and your preferences. Its one of those subjects with which we could fill the ocean! For ME, the term "artistry" evokes a thought of being creative or making something new (inventive?), and craftsman gives me the implied meaning of producing the created thing to (physical) perfection for a use. (A creative craftsman would be one who creates a new use for an old machine, or makes it do what it does better). The artist may not look for immediate perfection, but for the expression. The craftsman will look for the perfection and a way to do it efficiently!
So get out there, CREATE, and perfect your CRAFT!!

Perhaps I have a different conception of the term "Artist". I always think of it as a title only bestowed on the very best in their field. Perhaps this is something in my upbringing.

My grandfather was an accomplished and talented musician. He played the violin and many other string instruments. In his native Russia, he played in a symphony orchestra but when he immigrated the United States, times were difficult, he took a job as a laborer and seriously injured his hands. He never again played professionally but always played at family occasions and made sure all the kids had music lessons.

Grandpa always took me to concerts, listened to all kinds and styles of music on radio and TV and loved to hear stereo recordings. He would always critique the musicians- he was usually kind. He would remark that this guy or gal was a "good player, a good fiddler, or a fine musician" When, however, he watched or listened to a virtuoso- a grandmaster- he would say "Shooosh! Listen quietly" and say "this is an "ARTIST"!

Years later, when I began to attend open print judging session, I would listen to the critiques and judges would say "nice shot, good picture, not bad" and make their remarks but occasionally the words "this is the work of an artist" would arise.

Sometimes I will acknowledge that someone is a painter, a sculptor, a wood carver or whatever but is he or she automatically an "artist"? That's why I can't call myself an artist.

I have seen the work of craft-persons, and even trades-persons- plumbers, carpenters, hairdressers and food stylists that can qualify as art because it is so beautifully done. I once had a young fellow do some surface mounted plumbing in my darkroom. He took the time to create a nice design with the copper tubing and painted some of it with special colorful coatings. He said, "I know you spend long hours in here and I didn't want the place looking like a dungeon"! Craft can be art.

Anyone who thinks of themselves as an Artist, should get to know their Craft.
Sometimes the inexperienced consider a craftsman being the lesser.
Knowing how to expand the use of your tools, in ways others don't, or...
Knowing tricks of the trade, usually discovered by another craftsman's teaching,
these sorts of things have separated one's who just consider themselves artists,
with those who are artists who know their craft.
Of course, this applies to metal work, fine carpentry, pottery, painting, music, literature, etc. etc.
Oh, and photography.

To my way of thinking, the process of creating art has to include a measure of originality. A work can exhibit superb craftsmanship, but without the element of originality it probably will not rise to the level of art.

Have we not all seen wood projects at craft shows that are based on plans and instructions copied from a magazine or book? No matter how well these projects are executed, I would have great difficulty affording them the same level of praise that I would give a well executed, imaginative original work. Superb craftsmanship? Maybe. Art? Probably not.....

"A craftperson (gotta be PC, right?) is drilling holes and using anchors and screws for the purpose of hanging pictures on the wall. Doing that without doing serious damage to the plaster is a craft. But the moment they decide which pictures to hang and how to arrange them on the wall, that person becomes an artist".
Drilling a hole in plaster, sheetrock or other such material is nothing more than having knowledge of what size drill bit to use and the corresponding size wall anchor. Not really a craft at all just on the job training. Then after you have the various picture hangers in place and you take a picture or a piece of legitimate art and place them on a wall you are no more an artist than the guy who drills holes in the wall. You, if you need a title, are an interior decorator.
When you use a tool that is composed of plastic, metal some glass and electronic software and with this tool, you turn some dials set a shutter speed and adjust other parts of the electronic program then you take a picture. You now upload this to another electronic tool and then furthermore to a variety of different electronic programs that you own or rent on a monthly basis. You now use the various sliders in the electronic program and electronically manipulate the picture to enhance its offering. You may use a couple or a few more electronic programs to tweak it just so. Upon completion you now pronounce it a work of art. What??? In what way?? It is a picture nothing more.

Wow! Can't let this one go. By this definition no one is an artist and nothing is art. In Florence is "David" a sculpture by Michelangelo. Art? How could it be? A bunch of rock guys cut the rock using tools someone else made. Other people using wheels and carts moved that rock to his studio where he went to work using chisels, saws, hammers and sanding machines that yet other people designed and produced, to chip away at that rock until he was done. What does he have? A naked guy carved out of rock? Near my house is a forty foot humpback whale made of cast iron. Art? By your definition, how could it be. The 'artist' had a foundry cut the 57 sheets of iron using laser cutters. Craftsman using welding machines put it together and others using sanders and other tools, smoothed it out and then yet other craftspeople using all manner or modern tools shined it up and painted it and shipped it to Juneau where huge cranes lifted it into place. Where is the art in this? It's really just as giant piece of iron that looks like a whale. How would you make photography art without using your camera and computer and software and printers and framers and mat cutters? Or can photography and carved rocks and iron whales, never be art? I can't think of any art form that doesn't come to fruition without outside help. Even a writer needs a pen and paper or a computer.
...Cam