There are no evils in particular, but there are some close contenders. Immediately, I think of direct, on-camera flash (you know, that thing that pops up when people use DSLR’s on Auto). I use it to blind people as it is rather annoying. One of the best features of the 5D Mark II, or rather a lack thereof, is that it has no on-camera flash. Now people can’t pick it up and create absolutely flat images. There is a place for that technique, though, just not in my books (not yet, at least). 

Moving on, I am no dadaist. I think that movement was rather absurd and humorous. Their message was great, though. I don’t believe there is a defined scale with which the integrity of art can be measured against. Art for me is communication, whether it speaks to solely the artist who created it, or people who view and interacted with it. With regards to photography, and it being classified as good or bad, I do think a relatively good distinction can be made on the whole. Inherently, humans process information better when it is composed in a certain way. Trained and natural artists will know why a certain image or painting works. ie subject placement, colour palettes, rule of thirds, golden ratio etc etc.. Untrained eyes will at the same image, and think it is good, but not know exactly what makes it good. Of course, there are many reasons that a person could like a picture, be it content, skill, nostalgia and the like, even when few others like that picture. I stress composition because it is quite a neutral variable. Good composition is good. Based on composition, I do think photography in an artistic spectrum can be deemed good or bad, understanding that there will likely be disagreements with the degree of which it is either good, or bad. If you think of a series of pictures, say a dozen, all taken within a few seconds of each other, with almost entirely the same content, one of those pictures is going to speak louder to you than the rest. That’s you judging whether the picture is good or bad. You do it with the “like” and “reblog” mechanisms of tumblr all the time.

I really enjoyed your question, Anon. More, please? Come out of Anon, I’d like to know who this curious mind belongs to.