In the mid 1950s, Parents Magazine accepted an article I'd written that I called "Fight Fire With Fire."  Neither my husband nor I smoked and we rarely lit a fire in the fireplace in our Southern California home.  When the occasional smoker came to our home, our three sons were fascinated.  They fell in love with matches.  I had to be especially careful that these little torches were kept hidden.  One day their Dad came up with the idea of letting them light candles and get a "feel" for the power of fire by having them pass a finger through the flame.  It proved to be a good experiment. That was the gist of my article.

Even though I sent photos with the article submision, the editors of Parents assigned a "professional" photographer to do the photos.  That is how I met Lou Jacobs, the only professional writer/photographer that I know personally. He is a regular columnist for a major photograpy magazine, and has written and published more than two dozen books on phtography.  Following that assignment, he and I did many magazine articles together.  I would query the editor with an idea and cite Lou as a professional I had worked with.  If I got a go-ahead, most of the time he got the photo assignment.

We have kept in touch through the years.  I received a thank-you e-mail from him this morning.  I had sent congratulations on his 88th birthday.  I learn that his next photography book is due to be published in early 2010.  I learned a lot from him.  He did the illustrations for one of my children's books.  I just wish that more of his professionalism had worn off on me and made me as productive as he has been.  Until tomorrow, Willma