Lighting the Background + an Example

I'll be celebrating the 170 years of photography by learning about the art part in fine art photography. Not being a photography or art student, I'll need to set up my own method and goals of learning - the curriculum. Collaborative efforts are welcome by the way... I'll be defining and refining this curriculum in upcoming posts but in the meantime I need to make some peak previews.

In the previous post I was wondering how can one tell - as a consumer of art - the difference between a masterpiece and a snapshot. For example, take a look at this piece in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) photography highlights section. Then take a look at the photo below found in flickr creative commons pool by the user "ndrwfgg":












Do they have some fundemental differences with respect to "artistic vision"? Such contemporary documentary style does not actually underline the uniqueness of the artistic vision.