I think that the photography tags are doing pretty good on steemit. For myself, I am just an amateur picture taker and sharer of just pictures. I am a long long way from being a "Photographer". There is definitely room for both on the steem blockchain. I put a lot of words with my pictures simply because they are just that pictures, little slices of life I see of the ordinary, to share with people what the area I live in looks like. 

In a lot of cases, like you point out, a <i>"Photograph"</i> needs not words, it conveys a sense of feeling, being, or an emotion to the viewer. Words can actually hurt an artistically done Photograph, by stiffing that emotional response in people. But not everyone see's it that way, too many people think their pictures are photographs of that caliber and their picture of a rose is as good if not better than that other persons.