Like many of us, I have had my share of photo dating. And also like many of us, I have had more than I’d care to admit was my share of mismatches that is, the photos and the men didn’t match. The wedding groomsman in the tux, with the beautifully groomed profile (of face and head, not dating profile, that is) became a beer-bellied toothless guy with thinning hair evidently a well-meaning dude who was using a twenty year old photo. The studly, toned hunk in poolside trunks became a 400-pound truck driver who hadn’t seen sunlight for as many years as that photo was old. And the many pics of models, cowboys, weightlifters whom I didn’t even bother meeting we obviously cutouts of magazine dreams. Now, I know we all change, so I am not bashing the fact that Freddy Krueger is hairless when in his picture he was Samson. But I also know we have access to such inexpensive technology that an updated photo on one’s photo dating profile page is not asking for much. In fact, it is okay to expect an updated photo and honest answers about the photo, for it is that very picture that we visual people need to make decisions on before we get the best of all opportunities meeting in person, smelling their smells, observing their movements and gestures in real time.
And it is also okay to use critical discretion, to catch the photo that doesn’t match the stats, the photo that has a girl’s arm over the guy’s shoulder (with the girl herself cropped out), the photo with the left hand in clear view, a hand wearing a wedding ring, or the photo that has curled edges or torn edges that appear to have been ripped from a Hunk Weekly. See, that way, when he tells you he is a college student who is in a rowing club, and then when he sends you a photo that you swear is of his father, you can pass on him instead of giving up on photo dating altogether.
For as I write this, I also smile at the wonderful men I have met through photo dating, men with whom I still have a connection, a friendship, and a respect for a respect that started when they looked exactly like their picture!
Tags:date ideas, friendship, have a connection, online dating services, photo dating, Russian Women Dating
