a little about me from Klondike
 

An important message from Klondike :)

i have been here a long time and feel a connection to so many of you here that I thought i would share a few things about my life since I never talk about it.

Over the past few years I have had some serious ups and downs with my health and job and once again a crossroads is looming which I will need to deal with. Here goes...

Back in the old days, I was never much given to talking as a kid. I had to be prodded and poked, and usually prefered to just stare at the ground or at my food or whatever rather than say anything. Back then, they called it shyness, but now they have different terms. Selective muteness is one. Autism is another. Yes, I am autistic and today can hardly speak. If you were to run into me at an event holding a camera, we would not be able to have a conversation. That is a fact and I think only Fango knows anything about this. This is good news for you all, because the lack of social interaction frees me up to surf the web, post pics, etc. But everywhere else in my life, I struggle a great deal. I am smart enough to hold a job, but not being able to talk can be frusturating for my coworkers. I can stammer through life when I have to, order food, gas, pizza, etc. But I am virtually unemployable if my current job were to go away. Disability is the only option. So.......but circumstances are such that I may retire soon, and when that happens i will be sucked out into the void with no support, no job (I am mid 50's) and little hope. The rest goes like this...

When I was a kid, i played the piano and drew pictures. I dreamed of being an artist or a composer. I played the French Horn well enough to be told i could play in a major symphony. But later i went to college, got a masters degree, and tried to forget about these dreams to satisfy my parents. But of course I never did. Today, I have really come to enjoy photography, and if you visit my photostream at Flickr (user DavinS06) you will note that since taking up the camera to photograph nudes at events, I have tried my hand at more serious work too. So maybe I'm just a late bloomer, and at 56, have finally found my calling in life. i don't know. Being a composer would be cool too, but hey - lets get real :) Anyway, the reason i am writing is for your support and encouragement to continue taking photographs, both nudes and other. Tell me you like my pics, or even if you don't, say something nice about them anyway :) Cheer me up, in otherwords, and maybe I'll be around for another ten years or so to open my own Public Nudity Hall of Fame, auction my incomprehensibly vast collection of pics, and travel the world seeking out the best beaches, events and nudes for you all to feast your eyes on. It can happen, or i can go up in smoke. Autism is often accompanied by obsessive compulsive traits, anger, schizophrenia and other disorders. I have my share. Obsessive I am, for example, but I hope you have appreciated how i have put that obsessiveness to good use here. So thats all i got to say, and if any of you are hiding similar stories of autistic tendencies, geekiness, dreams gone awry, social awkwardness, loneliness, etc. feel free to respond. Otherwise, I'm taking my usual late winter hiatus from OCC while gearing up for the busy spring. So, all I want you all to do is thank this post and a thanks from each of you i will interpret as your way of saying something like "YOU ARE A BORN PHOTOGRAPHER, KLONDIKE - HOW SILLY YOU SHOULD EVER HAVE CONSIDERED ANYTHING ELSE!!"

we'll see how it goes....here is the link to my Flickr stream:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davins06/

cheers to all and someday I'll get around to downloading all of these great new pics that have been posted over the past month or so..

Kondike

Klondike me mate....geesus how does one seriously respond to that.
Knowing nothing about this condition, and going by your past posts which are mostly articulate, i never had an inkling.

Well as they say "Every cloud has a silver lining" and in your case i doubt without this condition if you would've ventured down the photography path to this extent, and thus bringing delight & enjoyment to thousands and more importantly to yourself as well.
Your photography is that good that i actually thought you were cheekily hiding your past from everyone...That, being of a skilled photographer working for some mag in your early days.

Most of your non-nudes in flickr are just as impressive as others if not more... normal everyday scenery are just so beautifully captured.. you've got the touch, no doubt about it!

here's to ya.. *raises glass* ;)

Ohh and don't ever think about retiring... or i'll organize the members of OCC to form a pussy, errr possy.. to hunt you down. :p

I tried to thank this Sal, but couldn't for some reason. Your words bring me great satisfaction :) I am quite normal really, except for the speech thing. I get up. I go to work. I take vacations. I go to movies (like "The Kings Speech", heh, heh which is sort of relevent to my life) and ballgames, etc etc..

And for the rest of you - story or no story - just check out the photostream! - there are lots of naked pics there that haven't been posted to OCC yet!! and BTW Sal, when I mentioned feeling a great connection with many of you here, your name was on the tip of my tongue. Its been a real pleasure and all the best to you...

KLondike

That's because we had disabled use of the "Thanks" button in the Site Feedback & Support forum.

Initially we thought it wasn't important here, but I'll enable it so everybody can use the "Thanks" button here as well.

I'll be the first to use it. ;)

Thanks,
Alex

Oh...funny I hadn't realized it couldn't be used! and i specifically was checking back looking for thanks that no one could give!

so.....um.....thanks for adding the thanks!

Klondike

Klondike: Focus on your dreams and go after them like there were no tomorrow. Now is the time. There is no turning back the hands of time. Just do it and don't be afraid to take risks or chances. Failure only makes success sweeter. It's far better to chase a dream now then to grown old later wishing you had.

I also find your avatar interesting. Any story behind it?

Thanks for all pictures you have posted, I have enjoyed them...

S&M

The avatar I think is a reference to my ancestry. Western pioneers of strict moral upbringing perhaps. Stoicism on the vast plains...

But i didn't give it a whole lot of thought. I really don't know where "klondike" came from, but once I had the name, i just needed to go find a suitable pic to go with it :)

Klondike

If you all don't mind, i would like to relate one more story for you to just give you an idea of what things can be like for me out in the world. Back in 2007, I suffered a severe health crisis which turns out was due to malnutrition. Thats malnutrition owing to obsessive traits linked to computer use vs shopping, eating right, etc. I am not stupid, just preoccupied. Anyway, i could barely brush my teeth, sit up in bed, or lift a pitcher of water for three weeks. I survived on tuna fish and rice, fetched during 10 minute dashes to the kitchen, while trying to figure out how to get admitted to the hospital. It wasn't easy. Twice i called 911 complaining of severe heart palpitations. They came and got me, did all the tests, and then discharged me while telling me to relax and reduce the stress in my life. The second discharge was humiliating. The nurse and doctor thought I was perhaps a homeless man. The doctor said to me "you can go home now.....uh......you DO have a home, don't you?" It was the most humiliating experience i have ever had. When the nurse told me I could get up and leave, I stammered that I didn't know if I had the strength to get a cab. She snickered and said "OF COURSE you can get a cab". They simply did not have a clue. At night for two weeks, the palpitations would come, and i would frequenty wake up brain dead. Literally - a very weird state of existence due presumably to oxygen starvation. The heart simply was not pumping blood. In three months, I was back at work, but it was six months before I could go full time. In 2008, this happened all over again. I have now got things under control, but for a while, it was pure hell. Anyway, a normal person would have had more social connections - friends, family, etc to help them get through this. But since i can hardly speak, it just makes matters far worse than they might have been otherwise. The worst thing was not being able to do anything physically, and not really knowing why, nor having any sense that things could ever improve. Do you call your boss and say "I'm really tired and so I won't be back to work for three months?" Just try it sometime. The moral here is don't ever think you can survive on 250 fast food meals a year for 25 years. You can do it until you hit 50 perhaps, but after that you better get your act together. My doctor told me he had suspected malnutrition during an exam back in 2006. It is hard to diagnose. But the irregular heart beat I've had now for four years is one clue. So, but not to drag this on too long, my time at OCC has come with some costs, but this was by far the biggest. They say boomers will not live as long as their parents due to computer use. Believe it! Last weekend, I actually went jogging. Jogging! I WILL be able to get out to beaches, events etc for some years to come now. At Fremont in 2008, I practically collapsed walking to Gaswork Park, and took a fraction of my usual pics because I had to spend all my time sitting down. Beside the fast food, it is everything they throw at you at the marts - the energy drinks, snacks and everything else. It is all pure garbage, and it angers me so much that milliionaires are made pedaling this "food". Enough, I guess for now. End of rant! but I will probably start carrying a card around with me now saying i am autistic (with a master's degree!), not homeless!!!!

Klondike

One thing that's always stood out to me in your photos is how close you can get to naked subjects without breaking their candor. Not something most people can pull off. That's a HUGE asset for taking this kind of picture. I'll keep an eye out for someone shooting nudes by GP, down by the water, next time I go into Bellingham!

Well done
 

I know you from OCC but I don't know and I was expecting to see a whole bunch of nudes and a few other pictures. Was I surprised. Your photos are very good and I was especially struck by the one of the cat on the sidewalk, looked like he/she had a sweater on and that he belonged there just as much as the people. I love cats, by the way. Do you do a lot of animal photos? I didn't have much time to go through your entire portfolio. You should be proud of what you have done. Thank you for being courageous enough to share your story with us....I would have never thought what you have told us.

Take care of yourself and be well.