Trey Ratcliff, Messenger or Martyr?

Fire Sky, Milford Sound, New Zealand
Caption: Seven separate images, at one-stop increments, combined into a single composite .tif file.Processing in Lightroom 4.4 and Photoshop CS6. 
By way of disclosure I had the privilege of meeting Trey Ratcliff fromStuck in Customsfame while photographingMilford Soundon the South Island of New Zealand during August 2012. The conditions weren't ideal, but the location is incredible and the afterglow that evening was spiritually uplifting. It was great to share the joy with such an inspirational character.
Later that evening Trey and his intern, Abe (a really intelligent and decent lad), joined my friend Joseph and I for a chat over dinner. We caught up to each other again during a night shoot and, yet again, early the following morning.
Trey is famous for being an earlier adopter of High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography and his site, Stuck in Customs, is extremely successful. He's worked hard to get where he is and, to my mind, is fully deser...