I, too, share some of the feeling that “things are not the same.” There are several reasons for this, I think. First and foremost, our sense of “difference” is a tribute of sorts to a truly unique human being. Michael’s combination of curiosity, erudition, simple joy in image making, child like sense of humor at times, curmudgeonly sensitilby at times, prescience in sensing what was/is going on in the industry and where it might lead, boldness to be on the cutting edge of recognizing that digital was “for real” . . . All this and a lot more are truly irreplaceable. Kevin and Chris are doing a wonderful job, but it “can’t” be the same.
Another contributing factor, for me at least, is that LuLa tracked the development of Lightroom from release to release, with great insight (and input!) into Lightroom’s direction - along with wonderful “insider information and insight” provided by Eric Chan and Jeff Schewe. This was intoxicating stuff, for me at least. With both the maturation of these tools, and Adobe’s seeming shift in emphasis in how it sees its own product (mobile & the horrible mistake on changing the import module), this whole aspect of “LuLa-vision” is pretty much gone.
Then there was what I consider to be “the magic” of Michael and Jeff in the tutorial videos. Holy cats, in some ways there couldn’t be two more different people - yet the synergy was awesome (and I don’t use that word often). From both a content perspective, and an entertainment perspective, these videos are “way more” than the sum of their parts. Probably the best thing I’ve seen lately is the “too short” video of Jeff and Kevin on soft-proofing. It has “some” of the same elements.
Then there’s the aspect of being a victim of its own success... we see a lot of new folk at LuLa who are “newer” to serious image making, and perhaps have migrated here from less polite web communities. It changes the tone of things, somewhat, but I guess is unavaoidable with the passage of time.
Tempos fugit . . .
This is still the best photography web site on the Internet, IMO. I still find that I learn more here than anywhere else. Kevin, Chris and company are doing a good job!
Rand
Rand,
Well, I learned whatever I know about Photoshop from two main sources: before I joined LuLa I used to frequent the BJP website-as-was and a few people there were very helpful to me in answering questions about digital which, to me, was all about another planet. Sadly, it also hosted some truly dreadful people and the moderation was pretty much zero, and so I gave up on being insulted; the next time I held my nose and peeped it had closed (the open website forum, that is). It was a pity, because I met some people there with whom I converse to this day. Just shows you what poor control does to websites. The other place of learning is here: LuLa. Not so much from the "management" as from individuals who when asked, seem perfectly happy to pass on their knowledge, for which I thank them.
The LuLa videos seldom interested me very much; being so product related they passed me by except for the M9 release which upset my GAS problem - well, created one for a short while.
You touched on the differences in membership make-up; I think that for me, that has been a noticeable difference and it began before Michael's passing, so from my perspective, I am unwilling to accept any sort of responsibility falling onto Chris or Kevin as being a little guilty of causing unwanted mood changes that had started before they were left to cope with LuLa on their own.
It's difficult to be explicit, simply because change happened slowly, but what I do miss is the presence of a few really excellent professionals who submitted images and written posts quite regularly. I can understand that they might have become disenchanted, and that's inevitably the effect of mixing oil and water: the pro/am thing. It don't
really mix, no way no how.
I was a pro all my adult working life; now I am retired and an amateur again, and my photographic interest has been dramatically curtailed by dint of the shooting opportunites of yesteryear being long dead. That makes one helluva big hole in your soul. So how to fill it? The only practical way I found was a return to one's very early inspirational roots, and that's where I eventually rediscovered Saul Leiter, who's work went well beyond models (my own specialty) and encompassed a fairly gentle form of steet photography which owed those divine creatures nothing. That, once I saw it again, offered me a filling for the personal vacuum, and that's the genre that has grabbed me - on and off - ever since. So with that as genre, I don't feel the lack of interesting professionals as much as I would otherwise. Apart from all those things, were I still working I simply wouldn't have had time to spend here. Period. Perhaps that's part of what has stopped others.
Something else that seems to affect me is the change within the Coffee Corner. I realise that I also occasionally fall victim to slipping, knowingly, into the dumbest of traps such as that damned US election thing and its never-ending saga of infinitely repeated political mantras (and now the gun thing), but I also note that it has brought about a difference in the way people respond to one another. A new bitterness and actual dislike of some people has surfaced, and that permeates throughout like a bad smell. I so wish that some of those sad threads had never opened.
Of course, the fact that LuLa is drifting ever more into an almost totally gear-freak site has not helped. From my perspective, as mentioned before, gear is hardly of much interest because I realised many, many decades ago that once I had the basic, reliable tools needed, the rest was always going to be limited by what I could do behind that camera and by what was in front of it, to equal degree. It's obvious that pretty much the majority here fails to grasp that basic fact, ever seeking and discussing the latest toy in some desperate hope of buying talent. That's pretty boring, and means that much of the LuLa content gets skipped, so not a lot remains for me. Fortunately, I enjoy writing too, and thus I do find a little outlet here for that, even if not really for my photography.
Perhaps, as somebody suggested, it boils down to the passing of an entire era in photography, and that's not fixable. But it is sad to observe the present, and to remember better times.
Rob