Luminous Landscape’s Entire Team Out as Founder’s Son Takes Over

The popular photography website The Luminous Landscape (also known as LuLa) is undergoing major changes. The business is losing its entire team and the late founder’s son is taking over as owner and CEO.

LuLa was founded by Canadian photographer Michael Reichmann in the mid-1990s, making it one of the earliest websites dedicated to photography.

After Reichmann’s passing in May 2016 following a lengthy battle with cancer, the site was continued by publisher and CEO Kevin Raber and others.

Now Raber and the team behind The Luminous Landscape are out, according to a source.

In an announcement published to the website today, Michael’s son Josh Reichmann announced that he is taking over as CEO of LuLa.

“This year we will introduce new faces and new voices: an expanded family devoted to studying and sharing the craft of photography. The digital photography industry continues to evolve (like everything else),” Josh writes. “Just as we have always done, we will continue to provide you with rigorous product reviews, compelling interviews with photographers from all over the world and videos that teach the latest in software and technology that will help elevate your photos from SD card to print.”

Planned enhancements and renovations include a new search engine, a personal gallery service, an updated marketplace, and a focus on mobile friendliness.

“I will not address the change for the website other than to say that I wish Josh & Irene the best,” former team member Chris Sanderson writes in a LuLa forum thread. “Personally, I felt that with the end of Kevin’s tenure as CEO and Publisher, I was provided an appropriate moment to also depart. It is time for a new generation to take over.”

“On behalf of Debra and I, we want to wish Josh and Irene the best with Luminous-Landscape,” writes Raber. “I would like to thank all the loyal readers and members of the Luminous-Landscape family for your support over the last five years. We are onto new endeavors. Stay tuned. All is well.”

The Luminous Endowment, which provides financial grants to photographers around the world to foster current and anticipated projects, appears to be unchanged, but there are reportedly issues behind the scenes.

“[T]he Endowment faces a severe shortage of funding for grants,” Sanderson writes. “I cannot be certain what changes, if any, will be forthcoming. We hope to be able to re-open some grants in 2019.”