2020 was beyond easy summation. If our loved ones and we are healthy and alive, we can count ourselves lucky and be grateful. Many people lost family members and friends (for various reasons), their livelihood, faith in institutions, or a sense of sense-making.

We will claw many of these back in new ways in 2021. I believe a great opportunity to revision how we prioritize and function awaits us if we dig deep into our personal wellspring of compassion and curiosity. Many new opportunities also rose and presented themselves this year.

The photography industry shrunk as it has been doing for a decade, but it also pivoted to smaller boutique models and found its footing in niche spaces. We will have an industry summary by contributor Dan Wells to share imminently.

Photography itself continued to explode as it has been doing since our smart-phones gained pixel capacity equivalency some years ago. How we share also continued to expand and dance with our tech networks and applications. The image remains supreme.

The professional photographers among The Luminous Landscape community can attest to the challenges they’ve endured and those that lay ahead.

But the thing that has not nor will likely change is the legacy art of photography, done for the love of it! That is what we focus on most here at LULA!

Landscape, wildlife and nature photography, street, and all of the genres as they continue to be honored or built upon and hybridized are here to stay. More people are being turned on to photography proper and as the phone is ubiquitous with capturing our lives, the art of capturing the image as a lifestyle and art form will continue to also expand.

2020 saw thousands of words spilled for The Luminous Landscape by the indomitable tech writer (and Harvard divinity student) – Dan Wells who covered big camera, processor, lens and printer roll outs, industry disappointments and surprises.

Our contributor Nick Taylor delivered award-worthy travel documentary interviews with landscape photographers in their environments- shooting, editing, writing, and composing the music for these pieces while carting himself up mountains, into forests, and along beach coves across the continent.

We interviewed and profiled up-and-coming and well-established luminaries in the field, and I experimented with discussing cognition and how we see and shoot.

Forward!

• The Luminous Landscape is bringing on a new editor for 2021, and interviews and profiles will be more frequent and varied.
• We will also roll out a new feature where members can sign up to have a personal gallery and a print portal with a ready-made shop with us handling shipping. We will offer a more diverse yet tailored space for our members who wish to share with the community, photo enthusiasts worldwide, and have a built-in audience of millions per year.

We have been building this for the last two years, but 2020 proved difficult to roll-out our new template and features as our headquarters (and my family!) moved cities to Montreal Canada.

I’ve been hesitant these last couple of years to share much of my work. It sits mostly on the abstract, self-narrative, or street side of the aisle – but really, I’ve taken fashion shots professionally, shot in hard to access natural locations around the world, and used my proper camera rigs and my phone to capture what I see when I see it. The moment, the poetic sliver of light or scene that calls me, is what I wait for. I don’t care where it is or what style it fits into.

So, that being said, I wanted to share some images from over the years. These are snaps. Off the cuff images that I feel truthfully capture my voice. They sometimes adhere to the technical when I have brought my attention to that space, and mostly they are my natural response to the environment and world I see.

I wish you all a renewed and peaceful new year where ever you are. Happy shooting!

And….remember to have fun.

Josh Reichmann

December 2020