This article explores whether photography can be considered a "universal art form." To do so, it follows two lines of enquiry: the possibility of including photography in the category "art" (and considering photographers as "artists") and the capacity of photography to be "universal." After touching upon photography's emergence in contemporary art in the 1970s, I investigate its technical and scientific nature, based on the necessary use of a camera, so as to demonstrate the universality of the process of photography. However, photography is carried out by a "photographer," who may be an artist or just a photographer and who can choose to explore personal and cultural specificities or a universal message. The examples of the "artist" Andreas Gursky and the "photographer" Andre Kertesz demonstrate the complexity of making critical judgments regarding universality.