I think if you want to become a great photographer, you must learn and master technics. Technics gives you freedom, and let your sensitivity expresses itself. A good photo can be pure luck, but several good photos have nothing to do with luck. Personally, photography has awoken my inner control freak, wich was deeply sleeping all my life…
So, for me, it’s about knowing mostly what kind of light and what kind of depth of field you think is better for what you are willing to capture. But I mostly take candid pictures, and not feel at ease at all if posing or modelling, though I can enjoy this sort of pictures, taken by others. I can’t tell anything about this kind of picture or about photos involving a great post-processing work, because that’s not the photos I take, even if, once again, I may enjoy them.
While I have to resolve an equation and juggle with constraints, you have a blank page. Your work is in a way easier (all you need is yourself and a pen), but harder in the other hand. Because you have no constraints, and they can give you ideas and push your imagination up. Best of inspiration and cheers to your art !