Photography is a process of selection and abstraction, a series of them at that. First, we put frames around a frameless world and choose one from among an infinite number of them. Then, we flatten and reduce the three-dimensional space down to two dimensions. Third, while our eyes can focus only on one thing at a time, we can bring the entire scene in sharp focus. Then we remove the color. All this, before we even deliberately try to achieve abstract results.
Then, someone comes, half-cocked with earful knowledge about digital photography, and pronounces that it is no good because: it is manipulated.
Come again?