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"Religious":Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visits members of the Muslim community in Christchurch on Saturday (full photo below).Credit:Kirk Hargreaves

It's a photo that has gone around the world. Wellwishers in the United States and news networks in Asia have shared the photo,which was taken by a Christchurch council photographer Kirk Hargreaves on Saturday.

Hargreaves,who used to work for Christchurch's The Press newspaper,was standing outside the community hall when he spotted Ardern's face"like a bubble"through a window.

On Saturday,Ardern visited refugees and members of the Muslim community in Christchurch. Tearful,she told the meeting the entire country was"united in grief".

"This is not New Zealand. The only part of the incident we have seen over the past 24 to 36 hours thatis New Zealand is the support that you are seeing now,"she said.

She had travelled straight to the meeting,after getting off a plane from Wellington that morning.

Hargreaves had followed her from the airport,and said he only got the striking image of Ardern because he was late to the meeting.

"The room was too crowded to even get into,because of all the community members,"he said. So,he ended up standing outside.

As soon as he got the photo,Hargreaves said he knew it would garner a reaction.

"The human empathy and all those amazing human traits she's showing in the picture,I'm glad people resonated with that,"he said.

Blotches of colour are strewn across the image,which he said were the result of flowers reflecting onto the window.

"I was standing outside,on a bright sunny day. You couldn't even see in,but then I caught her. Her face was like a wee bubble out of darkness,"he recalled.

"I thought,what,is that Jacinda Ardern?"

The mix of colour,the Prime Minister's hijab and the framing of the picture led Hargreaves to call it"religious".

"The moment I saw her face pop up,and what was happening with the flowers,I fully knew[it was important]. It's a religious photo in a way,a photo of a mix of religious symbolism. It looks like stain glass,there's the Muslim hijab,and colours of Hindu religion. It's a universal picture,"he said.

The photo,which first appeared on a city council Twitter feed,appeared as taken with barely any touch-ups or editing.

"Religious":Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visits members of the Muslim community in Christchurch on Saturday following Friday's mosque massacres.Credit:Kirk Hargreaves

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