Nerve Gallery

June 22, 2006

Nerve.com posted a gallery featuring some of my photos of Deborah today. Unfortunately, it requires a premium membership to view, but if anyone out there has one, check it out.

"Wow," Raymi said when I told her about the gallery. "They used her real name. You are totally making her famous."

Before being contacted about featuring some of my photos, I hadn't been to nerve in years. There was a time, though, when I’d go to the site all the time.

Several years ago, when nerve.com was new, and I was newly single, I spent a lot of time perusing their site. Reading articles, looking at photos. The high-quality fine art photos initially drew me in, but it was their personal ads that ultimately did me in, and I eventually had to stop visiting the site.

Fresh out of a long-term relationship, I used the nerve personals to contact hundreds of women, dating anyone interested, bored, or lonely enough to respond. My level of success depends on your perspective. Some people — usually those who were feeling stifled by their own relationships — were jealous of even my most miserable dates; however, most of my single friends knew better. "I hate dating," many of them said. "And online dating is just—I don't know— icky ."

While I never thought it was "icky", I have to admit that my personals addiction did get out of control. Dinner with a different girl every night had me running around so fast that I wore a new circle in hell. I wasn't the only one doing laps on that circle, of course. More than once, a date rushed off after a drink with me to meet "another nerve guy" somewhere else. What could I say?

It was a difficult time in my life, marked by many mistakes, but it wasn't all horror stories. I met many women who didn't resonate romantically, but went on to become good, close friends, and I have Nerve to thank for it.

In any case, I'm excited about the Nerve gallery. They often feature world-renowned photographers, and it’s a great honor to be listed alongside them. I'm proud of the pictures, and I'm thankful that Deborah allows me to take them.

As Will Diog wrote in his short intro for the gallery: "—his adoration of her physical presence is clear."

And so it is.