Abstraction in Photography: Picture Nothing

The idea of abstraction in photography becomes all the more intriguing when one considers the medium's inherent abstract qualities. Photography is often viewed by the masses as a transparent reflection of reality. Due to this assumption, as I've mentioned in previous blog posts, photographs often carry the baggage of a certain expectation of "truth". However, as Rexer points out, photography is abstract at its most fundamental level. Though all photographs may originate from assemblages of real world items (or the lack thereof) and photons bouncing off of them and being absorbed by light sensitive film or a digital sensor (or not), "The act of carving an instant out of temporal context and holding it open produces something truly foreign to experience." 

In a way, I suspect the public view of photographs may have drifted from its initial, more abstract perception, toward a view of photographs as a simpler, instantaneous communication of a moment. On social media, time is seldom spent contemplating the nature of the photograph, or looking beyond the obvious. Instead, images are accepted at face value as (rough) representations of reality. 

This photo culture can have a profound influence on our ways of looking, and the ways we experience photographs. To what extend does our everyday usage of photographs color the way in which we look at images in the future? Can we somehow separate these instances of vernacular "social media" photographs from "art" photographs? Is there a meaningful distinction to be found?