Well said!

It is only that there are several kinds of realism.

1. Photo realism, such as a camera sees it
2. Natural realism, such as human eyes sees it, and
3. Artistic realism, looking through the eyes of the artist.

Of these three 1) is the least desirable IMO.

As an example of 3) look no further than here at Renderosity, at an image uploaded yesterday by Pantalone: Bleus de travai
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2202721

This is where I'm going to be in a year or two if I'm lucky and stubborn enough!