I think the key is "be intentional". So if you take photos of old gas stations or buildings or whatever, the reason is because... say.. you are working on a doc

I think the key is "be intentional". So if you take photos of old gas stations or buildings or whatever, the reason is because... say.. you are working on a documentary project. Or a photo book/essay. BTW, I still also shoot with 120 film and had certain themes to work on (like "color", "flower", "morning activities", etc). If I want to take (lots of) random images, my phone or DSLR is always ready. I understand your point, though. Probably lots of us urban photographers have more gas stations photos on their drives compared to their relatives :D