Not every image created is meant to be some grand art. Sunsets are pretty universally better in person. So are waterfalls. We still photograph them.

You’re arguing for the ball-in-hoop machine. The machine is boring. It was impressive the first time, and then it’s always the same. No two amateur photographers see the world the same way, and they’ll photograph the same sunset differently. The human is the vital link to the emotions of the sunset.

If I photograph a sunset or a waterfall and real life was way better maybe that’s because I wanted to remember that sunset or that waterfall rather than an average of sunset and waterfall photos which comes with a steep environmental price tag.