One of my early photographic inspirations came from the work of Keith Lazelle. He would walk the entire length of the Appalachian trail, armed with 35mm Olympus cameras and a variety of lenses, aiming for fine art level images that he would then sell in the "down" months.
Some of his images, discovered by me first in Camera and Darkroom magazine (sometime in the '90's), have stayed with me since. His use of deep and mysterious light, contrast and abstraction drawn from Fuji Velvia slides and printed on Ciba(Ilfra)chrome paper were (are) magnificent and a testament to his photographic eye and the care he took translating his vision.
I cannot claim to match him, but with him in mind often, I am drawn to images like the one below.
The Philosopher's trail Kyoto. EM5 25mm lens