Finding the Art, Capture the Emotion

I am still trying to develop the artistic side of photography. I may be premature according to the Robert Rodriguez video I'm linking to below; I should be learning my gear inside and out. But I don't want to wait until then to start on the process of trying to get more in touch with the artistic side of photography.

I just finished watching this video by Robert Rodriguez I think it's worthwhile. In fact, I will watch it again and take some notes about what he said. I've also read the first book of his that he mentions in the video. I like his ideas and thoughts about landscape photography. His emphasis is NOT on the gear as much as the shot. You have to have and know the gear, but that's easy compared to being able to find and capture an emotion in a photograph.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATFShS-LTsM 

I have also started reading a couple of books that I like regarding this same subject, by David duChemin.

I want to be able to evoke a feeling out of the pictures I take. So far I feel like a lot of the pics I've taken are snapshots. Some may be different that what an iPhone could capture due to having control over depth of field or other exposure aspects, but I am searching for how to capture the other senses besides sight in a picture (something Mr. Rodriguez covers and which struck a chord with me).

I was really confronted with this with my pics from the cliffs at the Woods Canyon Lake viewpoint. I find that place amazing, standing on the edge of a large drop off (I was able to get closer to the edge there than at Horseshoe Bend). My heart was beating hard, my adrenalin rushing, holding back my vertigo and fear of heights, breathing in the clean, cool, pine tree tinted air. Hearing, or not, the quiet of the scene. I snapped some pictures.

When I look at the pictures none of them do much for me. I don't get a sense of danger regarding the cliff. I don't get a sense of pure nature (I really don't from the pics with the highway in them). I don't really get much out of them other than "here's a picture of where I went and that anyone else could have taken".

I don't have a solution to remedy this problem yet, but I'm working on it. I know that I DO like my sunrise/sunset pictures and other low-light pictures. They do seem a bit more unique mainly because not everyone will be out of bed at that time of day. But, that's just a start. I want to get pics of scenes that represent how I FEEL about a place, and to hopefully make someone else feel something too!