Is activating icloud photo mandatory to see photos from icloud synced from other devices?

If i dont activate icloud photos in my iphone, will i be able to see via the photos app the photos uploaded to icloud via my other devices (signed in with same appleid) ?

I am asking this as i want to use my MBP or iPad Pro as devices to edit my photos and use icloud to sync the selected photos will all the other devices. The idea is not to upload the photos taken from my iphone into icloud.