Does every photo need to be a work of art?

I spend a fair bit of time working on my photos to produce an image that achieves a feeling or look that I am after (sometimes I spend literally days on a single photo), but as I get back into wedding season I am reminded (and have to force myself to remember) that often photos that we take are a record of a moment in time, or form part of a larger story, and not every photo has to be technically perfect or a work of art.

Often you see people commenting on posts on social media to the effect of "if you had only shot RAW and processed in Lightroom" how much better it could have been; but who really cares if the image is not 100% sharp or achieves the full dynamic range possible from the camera?

Some of the most striking images that are world famous are not pieces of art but show a scene that tells a strong story (I am thinking of the Napalm Girl photo as a great example).  If some of these photos were posted today on social media sites they would probably get roasted for their short comings, rather than being praised for telling a story.

So, in short, take lots of photos, tell lots of stories, create a work of art if you want to, but don't feel the need to polish your photos if you don't want to.