You did a pretty good job, Les, by blurring the background. Now, learn how to turn this to B&W image and see, if you like a monochrome better.
Z

It works, good capture as well.

I've also been playing around with this artificial depth of field blurring effect recently. One thing I've found that helps things look more realistic is to lower the opacity of the brush you're using as you get very close to the object that's in focus ("close" in terms of distance from the camera). So your mask will be a mix of black and grey, really. If that makes sense. That way there isn't such an abrupt division between blur and focus. That is, if that's the look you're trying to achieve.

Regarding the photo itself, I think you've really captured a decisive moment here that adds a great deal of emotion to the subject. Must have been quite an experience traveling in that part of the world. Cheers!

gorgeous. mal