Abiword isn't a document format? What do you mean a photo? Is a photo embedded inside the document?
What program do you use to open the abw file?
Is that file something you can share with us ? can you post it here so I can try to help you with it?
I'm sure my wife will find a way to do it, she's the graphical talent here...
You may also want to look at this:
http://abisource.com/wiki/Install_on_Ubuntu
Perhaps opening this file in your linux will allow you to save content from the file or even export from Abiword to other formats.