Truth in photography. There is none! Don't try! Or don't get caught up on it. Please I'm begging you, embrace having a point of view, embrace the knowledge that photography is an exclusionary medium. We're presented with the sum total of the world and we by choice exclude all of it but a very small slice every time we take a photos, and that photo doesn't present any platonic truth, just a perspective.
lens chosen for its low contrast foggy bloom, edited to resemble Daido Moriyama's work in 71' New York (in vibe more than literally)
If you want your work to be as true to real life as possible that's no less worthy a goal as any other but just recognize how many aesthetic choices are made for you by your choice of lens, film stock or digital sensor settings, by the plane of focus, by white balance manual or auto, all of these things and more push you away from some ideal of truth, so why not lean into it?
Harman Phoenix shot at ei100 developed at box speed, scanned low contrast to give max flexibility, then contrasted back up to taste.
You saw something that made you want to take a shot, you felt something that made you want to take a shot, there is nothing wrong with molding that shot, before, during, or after exposure, to better align it with your vision or memory of the experience. The more you embrace a point of view, especially aesthetically, to your photography, the stronger it will become.
At the very least give it a try, crank the knobs to 11 and then dial them back, see how it feels.