Photography as Art

I've been doing a lot of photography (as a beginner) ever since I
joined the FOCUS group almost a
year ago. Every
weekend, on a Saturday or Sunday morning, we go to photograph as the
sunrises on these eastern shores. Sometimes, with a good cloud cover,
we spoil ourselves with the beauty of these sunrises like the one
below:

It's fantastic. It's dramatic. It's eye-catching.

But is that all there is? Is that how I want to define my
photography - beautiful skies and a somewhat engaging subject?

I hope not. Our world is beautiful and there are plenty of photography
subjects that don't require beautiful skies. There are certainly
plenty of things that I still don't know about photography,
composition-wise and a way to express myself and leave an imprint in
this world. I certainly don't want to look at my portfolio when I'm 80
years old and never really pushed the boundaries of what's possible
in photography. Emphatic skies are, in my opinion, a tiny fraction of
what makes a landscape photo great, more so what makes photography, in
general, a worthwhile endeavour.

And this is why starting today, I'm going to be more critical about
myself and really find out what kind of art I want to represent who
I am. I want my photography, and my photographs for that matter to
last centuries, not just a lifetime. And to do that, I'm going to need
to get closer to the masters, and hopefully improve on their works so
that one day I will be recognised as one of them. Hopefully.