If you see shots that you'd like to execute, but which you can't due to technical limitations (lens not wide enough or long enough, can't focus closely enough, pictures blurry due to camera shake, etc), then you need to rethink your equipment, and find what will achieve your goals.
However, if the problem is not technical, and is one of inspiration/creativity/artistic expression, then perhaps it is your approach that you need to rethink. I'm not sure that it is possible to always compress all the emotion of a given place and time into a single photograph. No 2D visual representation of reality could possibly capture it all. Instead, perhaps focus on individual elements of that reality, and trying to represent them in a way that evokes an emotional response. Really think about the scene, place, and your emotions, and try to figure out the WHAT and WHY of how you feel the way you do, then try to compose a picture that expresses it.
I'll add that once you identify what you are trying to express, you might not find the shot that really says what you wish right away, or perhaps even for a long time. But as long as you keep that goal in the back of your mind, hopefully you'll come across just what you're looking for, and be able to execute your vision.
Here's an example. Having spent a considerable amount of time around the Giant Sequoias here in the Western Sierra over the years, I've certainly had the inspiration to make a photograph expressing my appreciation for the massive and gorgeous trees. I tried many times, in many locations, but never could quite come up with something that really said what I wanted. That was until one afternoon, last fall, walking back to my car as the light faded, along the main trail in the Mariposa Grove (probably the most-visited of all Sequoia groves), on my way home from a long, but casual dayhike. I came upon one group of Sequoia that I had passed by many, many times in my life, but on this day, at this time, the light was soft and the trees beckoned. Because I had an excellent camera, which I knew inside and out, along with a sturdy tripod, I was able to set up and execute the shot in the waning moments before the light faded completely (it was much darker to the eye than it appears in this long-exposure): http://www.pbjames.com/p995984034/h2e8f315a#h2e8f315a
I had a vision based on a particular inspiration, and I had equipment that allowed me to execute that vision. You need both to be sufficient, or you will produce photos which are boring and uninspired, or technically deficient, or both. Work on the vision first, and only buy more equipment when you know your current gear is limiting you from producing your vision.
