Yeah, the hard truth, that a lot of folks don't want to hear, is that the gear you use absolutely matters.
Sure, you can take a well composed, well exposed, well thought out snapshot with any camera. But when you get into specific genres, like action, macro, wildlife, and astrophotography, the gear you use absolutely matters.
There are wildlife shots I can take with my Z9 and 600f4 combo that are simply not possible with entry-level equipment. That's why people shell out the big bucks for it. You can shoot macro with a non-macro lens, but the result isn't going to be as sharp and your depth of field isn't going to be as good. You can shoot astro with a cheap kit lens, but it's not going to be anywhere near as good as a lens with minimal coma and a very wide aperture.
The equipment used makes a huge difference.
I eventually unsubbed from analog for just this reason. As a woman, it was getting very uncomfortable and was creeping me out after a while.