Phew. Just read through all of this to make sure I didn't start repeating what somebody else has said....
Actually, Rob C came close when he noted that few "serious" photographers buy other photographer's prints. I wonder if Alain does ? The point being, that Alain is essentially selling to an uneducated market, or at least, to people who are not expert photographers, and who do not have a degree in fine art. I'm sure that most buyers react instinctively, subconciously to Alain's photos. They like the photo, but they don't know why they respond to it. They don't even know that they don't know why. They are not conciously aware of the carefully balance of form, colour and light, but it doesn't matter, because even though they cannot articulate it, they are immersed, by and large, in the same aesthetic as Alain is. But they want to react, they want to say something, and often the first thing that comes to mind, with the brain clutching at straws, is some half-grasped comment about the quality of cameras (I'm leaving out the subsection of "photographers" who are just trying to sound knowledgeable - la connaissance, c'est comme la confiture, comme on disait a l'ecole)
So the thing is - does is matter ? It seems hardly suprising to me the majority of customers are neither artistically trained nor knowledgeable about the photographic process. Seems to me that most artists, craftsmen and, indeed, plumbers, are in the same situation.
It works the other way too - I get, now and again, effusive praise for my photographs. I try to explain that they're really pretty average at best, and indeed, the camera helps (and it does - my Xpan photos certainly benefit from those lenses), and try to show them _real_ good photography in books, or websites. But they won't have it - they insist mine are "better", and I believe that they believe it.
Plenty of commercially succesful photographers have said, in essence, that the critical thing is to be an excellent businessman. As long as you're in the top 10%, photographically-speaking, that's good enough, but in business you need to be in the top 1%. So, finally, if you're looking for artistic recognition at selling shows, forget it. You neither need it, nor will get it. Selling is about money, not art.