One of the most important lessons I have learned in the 15 years of my photographic work is to understand. I have looked closely at all the old masters and analyzed them, tried to copy their style and adopt their technique and see through their eyes. But all this is only a small part of the learning process, it's not about shooting like XY, or setting the light the same way, or maybe using the same lens, camera, or skills. You can do all that, but it won't make you a great master.
I understand, it's not about technique, not about the camera and not about the lens, certainly not about perfect skin editing in photoshop. These are all parameters that you can automate emotionally, that you no longer have to think about.
It's about pure emotion that a picture should convey. This doesn't have to be a constructed story. It can be a moment, perhaps as imperfect as it was, transported just so perfectly. It's not about whether the focus is right or the picture is in the golden ratio. It's about understanding who you are and what you see and how you interact with your environment at that moment. This one moment, which lasts only a few hundredths of a second, shows not only what kind of photographer you are, but what art means to you as a person and decides afterward how you will be perceived.