It appears that the family of Michael Reichmann in the form of his son Josh has stepped in and fired everyone. Err, invited them to pursue their lifelong dreams of doing something, anything, else, as is traditional.
In a quite separate area of my life, I am seeing a story unfold in which shares of a company are being handed out in one manner, and employment by the same company quite another. The conceit, as always, is that the employees are part of the family, but absent actual shares in the company that is a lie. If what you're getting is a paycheck, you are a minion, and you serve at the pleasure of the owners, period, full stop.
Now, this might be completely amicable. It's possible that nobody at LuLa has received a meaningful paycheck in years, and they're perfectly happy to be shed of an unprofitable burden. Or perhaps they were making bank, and are still delighted to see the family stepping up to take on a beloved monument, while they pursue other and equally rewarding careers.
That said, the timing is awful. It appears as if Josh rolled in and gave everyone pink slips for Christmas. The post announcing the new regime is, literally, dated Dec 26.
I don't check Lula often enough to have noticed this. I do give them $12 a year. I'll see what happens. He did say that all writers will be contacted shortly, if you haven't already. It does seem like an odd, awkward transition. But, hey, maybe it will move LULA out of bad videos of men sitting around drinking whiskey and talking about gear.
ReplyDeleteI have followed LULA since the mid 0's and have noted a decline since Michael Reichmann's passing. As with most photography sites. Michael had opinions about photography and did not hesitate to express them. My impression was that he was in a financial position to not worry about sponsorship or advertising. Since his far too early departure there seem to be more posts that, at least on the surface, appear to be paid advertising.
ReplyDeleteI am not being critical of anyone caught up in this transition. I have never run a website much less tried to monetize that process. If that is what Kevin Raber was trying to do he was far less crass about it than others. I wish al involved the best of luck in wherever they may land.