When I first started out creating photographs it was, for me and most of my peers, the beginning of an expensive and life long learning process in pursuit of mastery of both the art and craft of photography. Today the motivation of many serious photogs seems to be very different however...
Forget art, forget knowledge, the driving force behind their making pictures is admiration. They publish their work onto the inter-web to be lauded by their viewers to underpin their personal esteem (sometimes motivated by financial gain). It is often a very serious business. OK, hands up I made up all of the commentary on the image above (the image is actually one of mine) so as they say "any resemblances to any persons or organisations are purely co-incidental as they are used in a totally fictitious manner"). But, as an illustration, it is not untypical of what goes on.
For those of us for whom photography is a bit of a calling or way of life if you like and who create photographs for the joy of the art and revel in the fact that it is a craft about which you never stop learning, then being motivated only by the desire to be recognised as a "name" or an "influencer" or a "celebrity" or whatever, is an anathema.
Whilst I have always said that photography is fun it never-the-less remains the serious practice of creating art through drawing with light. It is a sad inditement of modern times that many cynically subvert the values and true purposes of such a traditional craft to achieving fame and fortune instead. Dross!