A standard photographer takes a picture of something and shows you what it is. Like a statement of fact. A great photographer takes a picture of something and shows you something much greater than just what the image is depicting. It is a statement of emotion. It's why some photographs have transcended time and are still revered today, even though the cameras weren't 1,000,000 megapixels back when they were taken. Really though, how many megapixels does one really need?
This picture doesn't even look real. It looks like it could be a trippy screen saver image that comes with your windows PC. If someone showed me this picture and asked, "would you like to visit here?" I'd say "sure, but where are we going to get four pounds of magic mushroom?" What an insane, beautiful shot.