Is landscape photography mostly associated with visual beauty?

Question

After seeing landscape images from Flickr, Instagram, etc, seems like most people associate landscape with visual beauty (ray of light, long exposure water, highly saturated sky, misty fog, golden hour, etc).

Now this is the context of my question: I mostly shot street photography, and I think visual beauty is not a necessary element for it. Some prefer funny, juxtaposed compositions (think Martin Parr). Some like bizzare, journalistic-like approach (like Daido Moriyama). Some take shots of boring, everyday objects (like William Eggleston).

It seems that landscape photographers and street photographers have different mindsets, no? For landscapers, visual beauty is a necessary. But for street shooters, not that much.

Answer 1

Landscape photography isn't always associated with visual beauty. As an example there is the "New Topographics" from the 1970s. This style of photography isn't exactly architectural photography but normally shows human altered landscapes presented in a straightforward non-romantic way. Some of the photographers use traditional landscape/architecture photography techniques, like large format cameras and B&W prints, but the subject might be a construction site.

Wikipedia has an article on the exhibit that coined the term "New Topographics"

Answer 2

Here is a repeat of the only question in the post:

"It seems that landscape photographers and street photographers have different mindsets, no? For landscapers, visual beauty is a necessary. But for street shooters, not that much."

In general, photographers take photos of subjects that appeal to them (or at least appeal to their client base). Some take landscapes, some take streetscapes, some take portraits, some do studio work. These are not so much different mindsets as different areas of interest or different passions. Photographers will select the equipment, tools, cameras, processes, etc. to pursue their individual passions. None of these focus areas are inherently better or worse than another because they are all valid - at least to each artist pursuing them. So - yes - different photographers have different mindsets because they have different passions driving their work. (And by the way, beauty is not the end goal for all photographs - the photographer decides the end goal and pursues it.)