It really depends on the personal significance you attach to such things.

I guess in a broad way it does mean that but not in any way that is significant in and of itself. In my view.

To add to what others have said: the photographer is also conscious of their brand. They want to provide photos that they feel represent them as a photographer, which includes their editing style.

I understand why you ask “why not just just give us the unedited photos if you’ve already taken them and are just going to delete them anyway”. I mean, from your perspective it looks like you’re not asking for any more work from the photographer. But think of it from their perspective: when you show off those photos and tell people they were taken by Photographer X, then Photographer X feels like there are images out there attached to their name which are not representative of their work. Even worse, you could edit them in a way the photographer doesn’t like at all and then they feel like their name is attached to images they wouldn’t have distributed willingly.

You are not good people only care about the subject matter

The subject is what 99% of people care most about when looking at a photograph.

A technically mediocre photograph of an amazing, interesting, thought-provoking subject is much, much better than a technically perfect photograph of a cliché.

You can try software like Recuva.

Starscapes.