Cliché.
Ah Walter, if you let that enter your mind you are done for, effed and hung out to dry and truly hoist by your own - well, not petard, but consciousness. Everything is now a cliché and the thing is to make yours the definitive one. In other words, you have to revert to the artistic trick of theft: not petty, but grand larceny, just like the white rock´n´roll artists of the 50s did. Do you know that many, today, still believe that Elvis and Jerry invented it? Some even think it was Cliff!
Were I to subscibe to your philosophy (for a while, I did to Heff's), then I would have never bought anything photographic after I retired from active service. I'd have died years ago (do I hear muted groans of disappointment from the back rows?) from terminal boredom, stifled in the knowledge that it has all been done before and better.
On the other hand, that applies to many things in life beyond the noble art of snapping (I have recently realised that quite a few other things are noble arts); where would civilization be today if we'd given up immediately after Adam had had his big moment under the apple tree? There was a warning song about that during WW2. You know, don't stand under one?
Rob C