It isn't often that I get floored reading of the passing of someone I have never met, but it really impacted me when I learned of Michael's passing. Photography is my greatest passion in life, and there is no other place from where I have learned more about the tools and craft of photography than from Luminous Landscape. His loss brought it all home to me just how much Michael's contributions, his website, and his innumerable articles and video products have helped me over the years in my photography. The amount of debt I owe to what I have learned through Michael's web presence is incalculable.
In watching his videos, you could see Michael had not only a great personality, but great ideas, that touched thousands of photographers worldwide. His Luminous Landscape platform gave many of the best photographers (and software developers) a "meeting place" to exchange ideas and, in so doing, gave beginners (like I was) a way to improve their photography exponentially by the ability to read the advice/experiences of some of the best photographers and minds all in one place. And at the helm of it all was Michael, always developing some new article or video to help the rest of us improve our photography.
Michael's shoes are unfillable in this community; a void will be there and remain each time I visit this site.
Michael is blessed to have some great friends (Kevin Raber, Jeff Schewe, Nick Devlin, Chris Sanderson) who will keep Michael's Luminous Landscape going for the rest of us. It won't be the same without him, but Luminous Landscape is here to enjoy because of him.
I close this by offering my sincerest condolences to his friends and his family who have lost him, as well as my sincerest gratitude to Michael for all his great contributions: Thank You Sir.
Jack