PICTURES – Picture This! (The Flash)

Posted on October 25, 2013 in 30 Dates, Dating Experiments, PICTURES

Time for The Flash’s first contribution to the 30 Dates Blog! ….

I’m very much of the opinion that people are multi-faceted creatures with all sorts of complex, unique characteristics going on. So much so, that any attempt to label someone reduces them to an extent. Having said that, if there is ONE defining characteristic about me, that I’m happy to be stuck with and that fits me to a tee…I am visual.

I love seeing. You know the question that asks if you had to go blind or deaf, which would you prefer?

Deaf, always.

Blind … or deaf AND paralysed?

Deaf and paralysed.

Deaf and paralysed, unable to communicate and infested with slugs….?

Yes, if need be! Just let me keep my precious eyesight!

Pictures make the world go round. I digest images. (Follow me on Twitter for a stream of exciting visual links.)

And actually creating imagery? That is clearly the most fun there is ever to be had!

I studied Visual Communication. (Nope, not semaphore – it’s a combination of design, illustration and photography.) It wasn’t just a degree though. It was a way of life and of thinking. It was also massively fun.

Whilst friends at uni were stuck in the library, surrounded by dull, lifeless textbooks, this was the only recommended book on my course:

Communication is so utterly fundamental to human society, but words often feel woefully inadequate to express all that needs to be said. I have since worked as a graphic designer and now also as a photographer. If you took pictures away from me… I honestly cannot say what I’d be!

What do people do? Like, how do you get through the day, if you can’t legitimately spend 10 mins of it looking at things like this for research.

As a quiet girl, words often fail me, but pictures never let me down.

I don’t understand the geography of a place until I’ve seen a map of it.

I have brilliant spatial awareness.

The best way for me to understand an abstract concept, or piece of information?

Present it to me in visual form.

When it comes to dating…? Yep, I’m still visual. That unfortunately (and I feel, a little unfairly), means I’ve sometimes been accused of being shallow by friends. I’d prefer the term ‘appreciator of beauty’! Even though character (and a million other factors) are far more important to me, I do tend to go for, what these terrible friends term: pretty boys.

So, I’ve signed up to be an Experimental Dater to investigate how pictures and imagery relate to dating, and at the same time, perhaps add some visual content to the blog.

Who knows where this experiment will lead me?

Maybe I should fight my fears of ‘blindness’, considering the blog address?!

It would also be interesting to look at ‘caricatures’ of personality.

And I’d love to understand how imagery – particularly of women – in the media affects our approach and expectations of dating. Big topics, so if you have a fun idea for how I can look into them, let me know!

But to start off with, I will be doing what I love the most. Looking. I’ll be going on a Pictorial Date. Packing in as many visual stimuli as possible, I have a good-looking date lined up, a good-looking city to tour around and two good-looking Polaroid cameras to capture all the fun with!

The Flash

(it’s a funny experience being blog-named! But rest assured, there’ll be no flashing. I’m more of a natural light photographer.)