stock photos

Being an advertising major, i have to dive into the stock photography pool fairly often. And looking at the photos from different sites, there is a very large amount of similar photos. Though they may not be exactly the same, they are usually interchangable. It is interesting how this reading notes how stock photography was looked down upon by the photography industry. Every time I use a stock photo, i feel as if i am just coping out because i know that image has probably been used a hundred times before. I can respect photos that are considered stock photos and below true art because advertising works much in the same fashion. Most of the work done for advertising, though it may be beautiful and wonderfully creative, is considered below art by most of those who are labeled as artists. Andy Warhol was originally in advertising and made the move to "high art" though his cambells soup can is basically a stock photo now.
Another interesting subject brought up was that of the album covers. most of the time they really don't have to do with the band and are just random. But they call it album art for a reason. That photo of K-Klass's album seems really pathetic to me and im not surprised i've never heard of them.
Whats also interesting is how a single photo can become somewhat of an icon and it will be used for hundreds of different purposes and have hundreds of meanings (meshing gears or the water drop).