Welcome to the forums!
Sorry to hear about your problem - OTAs are NOT supposed to wipe your data. Did you get this 'system update' from a download from your carrier?
If you have your contacts set to Google (rather than to the device) and have syncing enabled then you should get all of your contacts back when you reactivate the phone.
Your apps will all be available through the Google Play Store, and some of them will probably automatically download.
Your photos are probably gone though. Sorry.
It sounds almost like you did a Factory Reset after the system update...
Sent from my rooted, debloated, deodexed Sinclair ZX-80 running CM -0.001 using Tapatalk