Heloise and Ed Lallo at end of photo shoot in her San Antonio home. Writer Stephanie Vozza in background.

Inside her home in San Antonio, Texas, the woman who writes Hints From Heloise pours a cup of baking soda into the drain of her kitchen sink to demonstrate one of her most-requested household hints.

“Here comes the fun part,” says Heloise, 60, adding two cups of vinegar.

As she watches the mixture bubble and foam to eliminate unwanted odors, she laughs. “I love to do this!” she exclaims.

Last year I had the pleasure of working with writer Stephanie Vozza on a piece on Heloise for American Profiles magazine marking 50 years in syndication.

The daily column started by Heloise’s mother has evolved into a multimedia enterprise. It is written in a no-nonsense brand of Texas charm and humor that are the hallmarks of the savvy businesswoman who inherited the column in 1977.

Heloise’s genuine enjoyment for researching and sharing household advice—from how to freshen foul-smelling drains to removing stubborn stains—have made Hints From Heloise one of America’s most widely read newspaper columns.

“Readers love Heloise because her column offers the kind of information you just don’t get anywhere else,” says T.R. “Rocky” Shepard III, president of King Features in the article. “She’s dedicated to learning, and is the hardest-working creator in our stable.”

Heloise is indeed a driven woman, but she was fun and charming to work with. My son Alex and I enjoyed the afternoon we spent photographing this special Texas legend at her San Antonio home.

Dyna-Light 1000xl power pack.

I am parting with this old friend that has been there as I photographed executives for annual reports and models for their portfolio, because I have decided it is time to retire.

I would like to sell the system as a complete package, but will consider selling them as individual items. The system is more than 10-years old, and has not been used that much during the last five years.

The Dyna-Lite Package includes:

Dyna-Lite 2000xl Power Pack 
Dynalite 2000xl flash power pack This pack can handle 4 heads, or you can send all the power to one head. Side A and B have a max of 1000WS with a Variator with 1/3 steps and reduces to one full stop of power. Each side can be reduced from full power to half and then to quarter power. There are switches for the modeling lights to be set to match the power output. The pack is in good working condition.

Dyna-Lite 2000xl power pack.

Dyna-Lite 1000xl  Power Pack
Dynalite 1000x flash power pack. This pack is 1000 watts of flash power split between 4 head plugs in two separate banks, separate modeling light switch and intensity sliders, 4 triggering modes and covers a 7 f/stop lighting range. One f/stop variator fine-tunes power settings on all heads simultaneously. One switch lets you toggle between Symmetrical and Asymmetrical routing of the “A” and “B” flash head outlet banks. LED indicates combined mode. Arc proof. Four arc-protected outlets allow you to plug and unplug flash head cables without shutting down the power pack. 100% recycle audible indicato. Choose standard mono plug sync cord, built-in optical slave on the sync input socket.

2- Dyna-Lite  Flash Head 
1000 watt second Dynalite flash head with attached pigtail and modeling light on/off switch. The head is fan cooled. The flash tube and modeling light are in working order. Flash head comes with plastic flash tube protector.

Dyna-Lite Flash Head with 7” Reflector

1- Dyna-Lite Flash Head with 7” Reflector
1000 watt second Dynalite  flash head with attached pigtail and modeling light on/off switch. The head is fan cooled. The flash tube and modeling light are in working order. Flash head comes with 7” reflector.

4 – Dyna-Lite 14 foot connection cable

2 – Dyna-Lite Grid Holders with 4 Grids

1 – Focusable Dyna-Lite Focusable Spot with Filters.

Dyna-Lite Flash Head

4 – 8-foot light stands.

This equipment has been well used over the course of its life, and looks like it. All equipment is original owner.

For information please contact.

Ed Lallo
ed@newsroomink.com
512.917.6222

Focusable Dyna-Lite Focusable Spot.

]]> http://www.lallophoto.com/photography/new-home-wanted-for-well-used-dyna-lite-strobe-sytem-1250/feed/ 0 http://www.lallophoto.com/photography/washington-post-kodak-bankruptcy-photographers-mourn/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=washington-post-kodak-bankruptcy-photographers-mourn http://www.lallophoto.com/photography/washington-post-kodak-bankruptcy-photographers-mourn/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:24:14 +0000 Ed Lallo http://www.lallophoto.com/?p=4111

Kodak has been in the camera and film business for more than a century. It is reportedly filing for bankruptcy. (Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

by Maura Judkis

When a brand whose name is nearly synonymous with photography prepares to file for bankruptcy, photographers, naturally, are a bit upset.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Kodak, the 131-year-old photography company, is preparing for a Chapter 11 filing. If the company cannot sell its cache of 1,100 digital-imaging patents — which could fetch from $2 million to $3 billion —Kodak will go bankrupt.

Photographers are preparing for the likely death of the company that has been an anchor of their vocation for their entire lives — though none of them appears surprised. Kodak was “in the thrall of its own brand,” wrote Alan Brew, a principal of RiechesBaird, a brand strategy and marketing company.

The company was felled by the adaptation of digital photography, despite having invented the first digital camera in 1975. Rather than staying on top of the digital revolution, the company seemed mired in nostalgia, better known for its old “brownie” cameras, the quality of its now-defunct Kodachrome film and for the phrase “Kodak Moment,” which entered the lexicon as a description of a photo-worthy scene. “The brand belongs in a museum,” wrote Brew.

Read Washington Post Story.

Mike LeCluyse enjoys the view along the Talimena Trail.

Queen Wilhelmina Inn, or the “Castle in the Sky”, is situated on a flat plan high in the Arkansas Ouachitas Mountains along the 54-mile Talimena scenic drive.

Arthur Stilwell, vice president of the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad (KCP&G), decided to build the first north-south railroad, a route from Kansas City, Missouri to Port Arthur, Texas, to provide rail access to the Gulf of Mexico.

Queen Wilhemina lodge at the Arkansas State Park is now closed for more than a year for a compete remodel.

The railroad’s route was drawn through Arkansas and the Ouachita Mountains. During the routing of the tracks through the valleys of the rugged Ouachitas, a flat area near the top of 2681-foot Rich Mountain was discovered.

This windswept, mountaintop location was brought to the attention of the investors of the KCP&G, many of whom were Dutch, as a site to build a resort retreat featuring a grand hostelry to entice railroad patrons to travel the rails.

The grand opening of the inn came on June 22, 1898 and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was to be crowned in September of that year. The luxurious hostelry of Victorian splendor was constructed of native stone and timber at a cost of $100,000. To honor the young Queen of the Netherlands, the magnificent structure was called “Wilhelmina Inn”, and a suite of rooms located in the southeast corner of the second floor and named for the Wilhelmina in the vain hope she would visit.

More than one hundred years, and two rebuilds later on the lodge, my old Maur Hill High School friend from Kanasa City, Mike LeCluyse, and I met up at the now Queen Wilhelmina State Park for a few days of rest and relaxation.  The lodge was scheduled to be closed the following month for more than a year for it’s third complete remodeling.

The marvelous views from the the lodge and along the Talimena drive are not to be missed, especially during fall foliage.

Also not to be missed is Spinnelli’s Italian Grill in the nearby town of Mena. The only restaurant in the area that serves alcohol, it was our regular dinner spot. A friendly staff serves the outstanding food. Best tip is to sit outside on the patio and enjoy the music.

The Talimena Trail is a popular destination for bikers.

The Talimena Scenic Drive is designated as an elite National Scenic Byway. It isn’t the quickest way to any destination, unless you want to get away from the ordinary and travel a road that is worthy of being the destination.

The drive winds its way through scenic beauty, historic sites, and natural wonders. Few travelers can finish these fifty-four miles in an hour and fifteen minutes. They could, but their curiosity requires several stops depending on their interests.

Hike fifty miles down the Ouachita Trail or sit on the front porch of the Queen Wilhelmina lodge and take in the view, the Talimena Scenic Drive can take you to some unique places. It’s more than just a road – it’s a destination that we are glad we did not miss.

Former People Magazine photographer Ed Lallo visiting "Okie Orthodox Ostrich Raising Monks" display at the Oklahoma City Zoozeum.

The Orthodox Okies of Forest Park Offer Holy Protection to Ostrichlings

Oklahoma town of Forest Park (pop.: 1,250), 10 Eastern Orthodox monks are midwifing baby ostriches, and doing it a good deal better than the Oklahoma City Zoo, which had just about given up trying. Life at the zoo, after all, tends to be sort of, well, a zoo, whereas life at the Holy Protection Orthodox Monastery, where women never enter, where meat is never eaten, is quiet and serene. There, zoo-laid ostrich eggs are hatched and the chicks are brought through adolescence, then sent back to the zoo for sale to other zoos all over the world. “

In the late fall of 1981, after a seven-year career working as a photojournalist for a variety of newspapers, I decided that my talents would be better served as a freelancer. Withdrawing the little money I had saved from my Tulsa bank, I flew off to New York for a weeklong adventure of showing my portfolio to every photo editor that would spare five minutes of time.

Father Arsenios, father Seraphim and Brother Simeon cuddle three winged neonates oustide the only Eastern Orthodox monastery in Oklahoma in 1982. About ostriches, says Arsenios, "I had to learn real quick."

One of the five-minute stops included a trip to People Magazine. I was lucky enough to get the time of the photo editor, Mary Dunn, and assistant photo editor, MC Marden. Both echoed the words that I had heard many times during my trip, “we love your work, come up with an interesting story and we will assign it to you.”

In the spring of the following year I was watching a popular TV program of the time – “Real People.” The show contained a four-minute segament on the monks of the Oklahoma orthodox Monastery of the Holy Protection of the Blessed Virgin that raised ostriches – a natural for People I thought.

Working closely with Michael Wallis, a freelance Tulsa writer at the time and current author of David Crockett: The Lion of the West, we submitted a proposal to People – and a couple of weeks later I started shooting my first assignment. The four-page article appeared in the September 20th, 1982 issue.

Twenty-nine years later, the Orthodox Okies of Forest Park are back in my life.

The Patricia and Bryron J. Gambulos Zoozeum at the Oklahoma City Zoo, has included a display on the famous “Okie Monks” that includes artifacts, photos, the original magazine and of course ostrich eggs. Also included is a 1980 Nieman-Marcus Christmas catalog that featured ostriches raised by the monks – price $1500 for a pair.

The only museum of its kind in the country, the OKC ZooZeum is a place to experience the zoological and botanical memories that guests and staff have encountered at the Zoo for more than 100 years. Designed into the framework of a 1935 Works Projects Administration (WPA) building originally built as a bathhouse, the ZooZeum is located in the heart of the zoo next to the Elephant Pavilion in the Elephant Habitat.

“The Ostrich Odyssey exhibit came to life when the zoo came into possession of one of the monks original ostrich chick cages”, said Amy Stephens, Naturalist Instructor Supervisor and Zoozeum Project Manager. “We found it interesting and after further research we were able to get the original people magazine photos from Ed Lallo, as well as purchase the magazine and Neiman Marcus catalog on Ebay.”

Amy Stephens, Naturalist Instructor Supervisor and Zoozeum Project Manager

More than 25-years later, the photos and story of ostrich raising monks still holds up. During the first 20 years of People Magazine, stories and photos were focused on both real people and celebrities. The magazine was black and white, and was not afraid to devote space to uses the eye-catching photos prominently.

A few days after the monk story appeared in the magazine, I was sitting in my Tulsa apartment on a Friday afternoon when the phone rang. It was Mary Dunn, People’s photo editor. She wanted to know if I was available to shoot an assignment. Renown climber Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia sportswear, was expecting me in the morning in Jackson Hole, WY to photograph him climbing one of the Grand Teton’s peaks – thus began more than 15-years of phone calls all People Magazine photographers were used to receiving on a Friday afternoon.

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The first day of same-sex marriage in New York City was on July 24th 2011. I was in New York to attend another wedding a few days before, and got the call to shoot the same-sex marriage story.

I spent the day with a wonderful couple Meredith and Tiffany who let me be a part of their day. A big thank you needs to go out to GLAAD who connected me to the couple.

View Charles Fox Tearsheets.

Rodrigo Telon Yucute, a former guerrilla fighter during the civil war in the 1980's in his home country of Guatemala who lost his left forearm and his eyesight was destroyed after a land mine exploded beneath him, prepares to take a photograph of a a couple leaning back on a park bench in Mexico City Sept. 7, 2011. He is one of 30 visually impaired or blind people learning photography with the help of the Mexico City foundation Ojos Que Sienten, or Eyes That Feel. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ, Associated Press

MEXICO CITY — Rodrigo Telon Yucute focuses on the sound of the voices, raises a camera and snaps off a shot, capturing an image of a couple laughing as they sit on a yellow park bench.

He shows it to the subjects, but cannot see it himself. The photographer-in-training has been blind for nearly 30 years.

“When I was young, I met a lot of people and it always caught my attention how they would take photographs to keep as mementos,” Telon said. “I like to take photographs to capture a moment that I can later share with my family and friends so they can see what my life is like.”

Telon was a 22-year-old guerrilla fighter in his home country of Guatemala when a land mine exploded beneath him, ripping apart his left forearm and destroying his eyesight.

After years of rehabilitation, he learned Braille and how to use a white cane to get around. Now 51, Telon is fulfilling his longtime wish of taking photographs.

Read Huffington Post article.

In this Aug. 27, 2011 photo, a U.S. Marine with 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3/4 Marines, looks out from behind sandbags during an exchange of fire with Taliban militants, at Patrol Base 302, in the Gesresk Valley, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. The Marines of 3rd Platoon who live inside the mud-walled compound of PB-302 face Taliban militants who regularly attack the base from multiple directions using launched grenades, sniper rifles, and AK-47s. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

The unit of infantrymen and snipers occupies a traditional Afghan mud-walled compound called Patrol Base 302 in the Gereshk Valley of Helmand province, where fighting persists nearly 10 years after the war began.

U.S. Marines with 3rd Platoon, Kilo Company, 3/4 Marines are close to the end of their deployment. All have known fellow Marines killed or maimed by enemy explosives and bullets.

Read Associated Press article.

View Associated Press photos.

The Texas Gas Service billboard high above El Paso’s Patriot Freeway is up!

Earlier this year I made the long drive to El Paso from Austin to photography three Texas Gas Service, a ONEOK company, employees for a billboard advertisement. Located on the edge of the company’s service yard, the billboard is in a prominent position to be viewed by daily commuters to downtown and Ft. Bliss.

The company’s success is driven by employees who strive to better their company and the communities in which they live. The billboard featured three local employees who met these criteria.

Texas Gas Service is a natural gas provider serving customers in Austin, El Paso, and the Rio GrandeValley. It provides natural gas service to approximately 535,000 customers in the state of Texas, including customers in Austin, El Paso, the Gulf Coast and the Rio Grande Valley.

A division of Tulsa-based ONEOK, it is a diversified energy company involved in oil and natural gas production, gathering, processing, storage, transmission and marketing in the mid-continent areas of the United States.

Through financial and volunteer support, Texas Gas Co is committed to using their considerable resources and skills to benefit the communities they serve. is committed to providing reliable natural gas service and ensuring that their customers receive the highest quality customer service available.

New York photographer Richard Drew.

Richard Drew put down his camera bag and looked up at the colossal skyscraper that seemed to be racing toward the clouds at an accelerated clip.

“I’m really surprised how fast this building’s gone up,” he said of the rising edifice at 1 World Trade Center, peering at the monolith from beneath the brim of a tan baseball cap. “I just hope it isn’t another target.”

But he had nevertheless returned to retrace his steps for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001, when he had watched dozens die through the lens of a Nikon DCS620. On that similarly brilliant morning a decade ago, two planes had crashed into the Twin Towers by the time Drew emerged from the Chambers Street subway stop around a quarter after nine. The 110-story buildings looked like a pair of giant smokestacks spewing plumes of black soot into the crystal blue sky.

He began shooting, focusing on the topmost floors. It wasn’t long before he realized that some of the people trapped inside — as many as 200 of them, it was later estimated — had decided that plunging thousands of feet to their deaths was preferable to burning alive.

“There’s one. There’s another one,” he said, recalling the horrific scene with a detached ease. “I just started photographing people as they were falling.”

Read Yahoo News Story.