As a kid, my mother would tell me that I should not compare myself to others. It is a piece of good advice, but it is so hard to follow. In general, art is a very personal thing. You are expressing what is inside of you. Simultaneously, in a moment where making content visible is reasonably straightforward, finding other people doing exactly what you have in mind happens quite frequently.
Gregory Heisler once said that a photographer shouldn't be looking at other photographers' work before a shooting because that would impact your own creativity. I agree with him, and I have been exercising that. Still, all the other times when I am studying or building a mood board, I find myself comparing my work with my references and how far away my work is from them.
One could see this as a half-full/empty situation. It is either a motivation or a reason to not try harder. In my case, it is a bit of both, of course much more motivation. Still, there are days that I look and think, I am tired of this, I don't have the access, the money, or maybe the talent of this photographer. I stay with that feeling for a day or two. Then I go back and realize that I might actually become as good or even better if I keep working hard. I don't know the story of that person, how hard it was for them to get where they are, how many times they thought about giving up. I am seeing years of struggle in one photo and thinking it came easy to them.
There is another situation: When I want to create something that I can't yet describe in words, I have only the general image in my mind. Then I try to find someone that has already done it and get frustrated for not encountering it. Ironically, I get frustrated when I can't find someone who already did what I want to do. One can call this self-sabotage or lack of trust in oneself.
We must detach from the comparison and constant need for inspiration in other photographers when pursuing authenticity. That is an exercise, which for some lucky people is natural from the beginning. For others less fortunate, that is an incremental job. I am among those still pursuing my own style and authenticity.
Recently, a friend of mine that happens to be an artist told me that it all lies in how I perceive "a short time" to be. When he asked what a short time interval for me to find my style is, I answered between one or two years. That is when he told me: "that is your problem right there. A short amount of time for someone to basically change everything about what they do can't be one year. It takes at least ten.". Henri Matisse, for example, arguably did his best work only after 17 years of painting, and I am no Matisse. Picasso, who is considered the best artist in modern history, painted since he was a kid but did his first cubist piece when he was 26. Again, genius. Me? Not a genius.
Nobody should be comparing them with others. That is especially bad for artists. Also, if Geniuses took at least 15 years to find themselves, it is only fair to believe we might need a bit of time ourselves. So patience is key and objectivity when looking at the stage of our own work. We might take some time, but we can get there.