Cheating?

Would you guys consider
applying Photos and digital images as textures
"Cheating?"

Aloha,
Kaleo

Goodluck to anyone trying to achieve photo-realism without using photos.  You would have to have a lot of time on your hands to produce nice textures without the use of photos or digital images.  Sure you can hand paint textures until the cows come home, but it's (almost) impossible to simulate realworld objects armed only with a tablet.  Cheating?  Hah, I call it smart.

If you take out photos and digital images, all you have left are procedurals.