I think your patience really did pay off, i'd love to take a photo like this. And on the other thought, I think you should post a photo of you crawling across the rocks. You know the true spirit of photography:-]
Ellie
"Imperfection is beauty; madness is genius & it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. And when it comes down to it, I let them think what they want. If they care enough to bother with what I do, then I'm really better than them."--Marilyn Monroe
Definitely worth it, even if he wasn't ready for his close up! Your dedication definitely paid off. I just hope your knees didn't take too much of a battering.
"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place; from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider’s web." Pablo Picasso