I think what we are (or should be) is storytellers or communicators. The story can be told with words, photographs or artwork, sound or a combination of all of it. You can teach people the mechanics of writing, of photography, of video, etc. I always told my students that learning to use the camera or to process film is the easy part. What is hard to teach (and learn) is imagination and creativity. We are all taught how to write in school. But we are not taught how to "see." Someone developed the term "visual literacy," and I developed a class to teach students how to "see."
One of the best examples I have ever seen of someone who combined words and photos so effectively was an article in a 1956 issue of TRAINS magazine. Article was tilted :Into the Freezing Darkness," about a ride on a D&RGW freight from Alamosa to Chama and return.