Christian Photographers Community

Hi All,

A couple of you on here, at least, know me (you should, you invited me  ). To everybody else let me introduce myself.

Name's Don and I'm an Aussie from "downunder" - a "Banana Bender" at that (I hail from Queensland). I've been into photography since the early 70's and a follower of Christ since about the mid 70's. My ID is an oblique reference to the fact that I am "Chemically Disabled" by a condition known as "Multiple Chemical Sensitivity" (MCS) which basically isolates me from the modern world. In short I have violent and severe physical reactions to the presence of even minute amounts of a very large range of modern manmade chemicals. Some of you may know of MCS by the term "Allergic to the 21st Century". I am effectively "imprisoned" by the mist of manmade chemicals that pervades our modern world - hence "Mistmann".

Apart from a love of photography I am also a Christian writer and poet and operate 3 websites (as and when able). These are:-

My "Island Place" website at http://au.geocities.com/dj_ludlow/

(FREE Ebooks of my works are available from my "Island Place" website)

My Authors Den website at: http://www.authorsden.com/djludlow

And my "Views From an Island Place" Blog at http://www.islandplaceviews.bigblog.com.au

After visiting these sites you will probably know more about me than my parents.

(I also run an email list for those who are like myself called CDANET (Chemically Disabled Australasian NETwork). We have about 80-90 members at present (but there are a great many more of us out there than that and there are several other support groups in Australia alone).)

On the photography side I use to annoy people with a Minolta 303 and several lens attachments. Now I annoy people with a digital camera with several attachments and video capability. You will find that most of my works since 1996 are outside shots. 1996 was when I succumbed to MCS and since then cannot enter virtually all buildings and enclosed and/or crowded areas. It is my specially modified home or open (read "outside"), well ventilated "safe" areas.

I do have a lot of "legacy" prints and slides I am, ever so slowly, trying to scan and digitise and "restore" to former glory. I am making inroads with the prints but am stumped with the slides for lack of a slide scanner. (The local photography shop prices are a bit steep for someone on a limited income).

OK I've dribbled a bib full already. I'll fill in the blanks as we go. My MCS will make my participation a bit "spasmodic" at times as exposures and other things regularly "floor" me for extended periods but we'll see how I go.

Glad to meet you all and looking forward to the fellowship and photos.

In Christ,

Don L.

Don - I'm truly glad to meet you here.  Thanks for coming in.  I'm quite interested in your poetic works, as I'm a poet of sorts also.  I'm also a writer and editor along with my avocation as a pastor/preacher.  I was for many years a technical writer/editor in the electronics industry, all the time pastoring various churches as well.  Really glad to meet you!
-Al

Me too, Don ... I mean I'm glad you stopped by and will be looking forward to "hearing" more from you.    

I also am a writer and enjoy seeing what others accomplish in that genre ...

A great big to you Don from over here in Canada.

I found your profile very interesting and yet sad to read.  I'm sorry about this problem of yours, thus your name, "Mistmann".

I also now realize that I sent you a Welcome letter from the site with only one "n" on the name so please forgive? 

Pull up a chair and make yourself right at home here at

Hi Al, Jane and Pat,

Thanks for the great welcome guys. I'm an ex- I.T. manager myself Al so there's something else we might have a little in common. Glad to hear you have read some of my works, you'll have to point me to some of yours sometime (you too Jane). BTW if you haven't already grabbed some of my free ebooks help yourself. You can use any of it in your pastoral work if you wish to and it can be freely printed and distributed around or emailed. It is free to go wherever the Lord may send it.

Hmmm Pat, Pat, Pat, ... what are we going to do with you??  .... leaving an "n" off the end indeed. Being a follower of Christ I guess I'll just HAVE to forgive you!!

Actually it has two n's because one site where I used it required that ID's be 8 characters long so I just chuckede in an extra "n". But it looked good so I just kept it that way.

Not sure about sad but it IS a pain. Still my motto (now  ) is "do what you can with what you have left". The other thing I learned was that the Lord alone IS sufficient for me ... EVERYTHING else is a blessing ... and I still have quite a few of those left.

The Lord has not adandoned me ... nor I Him!

The chair is good ..... the coffee's better   

Now let's see if I can get some photos up around here (BTW thanks for pointing me to the instructions)

Don L.

Don, you're like a breath of fresh air here on the site!  Great to read your post this morning!

You might like to join our banter for the week HERE

Hi Mistmann ( Don) I somehow missed your it. Now that I have "Met" you and know more I'll send ya a Big HOWDY. I am in California, the same town as Al, we know each other well.   I am sure I can learn a lot more about photography from  you.
Welcome to the group.

Hi Don!

Welcome to CP!  I will keep you in my prayers.  I do know some of what you're going through. 

I have been diagnosed with Celiac Disease (also known as Sprue) or Wheat Gluten Allergy (also corn, tomatoes, potatoes).  My diet is much the same as yours.  Organic as much as possible, eating things as close to the way God made them as possible.  Even on my diet, I sleep 9 or more hours and wake up exhausted.  I just looked over the list of symptoms for MCS and I have about every one of them.  I've currently having a reaction that I cannot figure out the cause.  I have asthma, hives, fatique, migraines, joint pain, edema, depression, fog headed, extreme short-term memory problems, decision making problems and on and on. Reading about MCS leads me to think that I'm overloaded on chemicals, as well, even though I try not to be.  (or maybe have mild MCS?)

Please pray for me as I try some of these things suggested for toxic free living.  I can certainly relate to the feelings of waking up exhausted and depressed, but happy, excited and blessed by all that I have in my life.  (God's grace allows for that, I suppose) It's so hard to have such conflicting feelings.  Sometimes, I look out and see the beautiful sunset and want to go out and photograph it, but just physically cannot, even though the desire to do so is strong. 

Anyway, welcome and I hope we can encourage each other on this journey to health.  Oh, by the way, does your wife cook for you?  Does she cook the same food for your whole family?  This has been part of my challenge. 

Blessings, Kathleen

Quote from: Mistmann on July 09, 2007, 09:08:24 AM


Hmmm Pat, Pat, Pat, ... what are we going to do with you??  .... leaving an "n" off the end indeed. Being a follower of Christ I guess I'll just HAVE to forgive you!!

Ohhh, I'm so happy!  Thanks Don! 

Hi Kathleen,

Thanks for the welcome but sorry to hear you have been similarly "smitten".

I haven't been diagnosed with Celiac but am wheat/gluten intolerant also, although I have not experienced any problems with tomatoes or potatoes (thanks to the Lord). Corn is a problem for me too though. Funny how the body knows more than the scientists. I could not tolerate corn long before science discovered that it too had very small amounts of gluten in it  . But I give thanks for rice, rice cakes, rice fettucini, rice flour, rice...

One of the key definitions of MCS is that symptoms ease with avoidance and detox. In other words it is a "pure" reaction triggered by exposure to chemicals. Hence no chemicals, no reaction. BUT MCS'ers react to such a wide range of chemicals (external and internal) in such minute amounts that total avoidance and total detox is next to impossible to achieve. Still with VERY careful management I can achieve some semblence of health, even if it is immediately shot down by the slightest exposure to some chemicals. I must also keep physical activity within certain ill-defined limits to avoid stirring up more stored chemicals than my body can handle at any one time.

But the price of "health" is almost total isolation, constant vigilance, very limited diet, and a carefully paced lifestyle, etc.

The key to MCS management though is identifying triggering chemicals and products - VERY difficult when it is just about everything in the modern world. Sometimes the clue has to be "when do I NOT feel ill".

With careful management I am able to more or less be a "househusband" as long as nobody expects anywhere near perfect (indeed sometimes only barely sufficient) housekeeping. I manage (most times) to at least keep the place somewhat liveable and provide things edible. So I'm the one that does the cooking (as and when able) while my wife does casual teaching and tutoring. BUT she has to do ALL the shopping. We eat very healthily and have developed a range of "safe" options that we all enjoy, even though my family gets to enjoy a few extra treats and options that are off limit to me. Sometimes it is as simple as using rice flour instead of normal flour to coat chicken, snitzel (spelling?), etc. ; substituting rice fettucini for spaghetti and pasta, and so on. As with all things necessity is the mother of invention ... and we sometimes have to get VERY inventive.

Don L.

Hello from OBJ glad to see you have made it here my friend. I look forward to viewing your photos.