IT'S THE PHOTOGRAPHER -NOT THE GEAR

I did not take this photo but I wish I had- although the chances of finding me in a church during a service are very remote.It was taken by friend,Patrick Wheeler, last Sunday,Mother's Day,in a Russian Orthodox church in the Ardennes,Belgium.Patrick believes that the picture shows the priest accompanying his mother.
The composition and the light are great and it was taken on a little Canon S90.
I copied the colour image he sent me and converted it into monochrome and then cropped it in Lightroom.Patrick is not keen on the monochrome but I believe that it makes the photo.
If you read most of the numerous photo blogs and websites currently and in particular the usually banal forums and comment columns accompanying them you could easily form the impression that unless you owned one of this year's hot new cameras and are taking multi megapixel images then really there is no point in taking photographs.This photo proves yet again that it's the photographer not the gear that counts.On this subject see the thoughtful post by Kirk Tuck on his Visual Arts blog seePick up your camera and head out the door