#160 – February 16, 2022 (47/365)

The BLOG:

In February, I am selecting the oldest photo from my “Candidates” folder and if I still love it, posting that. If the love has gone, it gets deleted.

The special thing about this photo is that it is a full-frame photograph. That is, it hasn’t been cropped by a single pixel. This guy was flying overhead and I managed to get him in focus with the single shot I took. Of course, the Nikon Z9 would have nailed it instantly, but that’s not arriving until August.

PS: Did you love the photo? Each photograph in the 2022 365 Black & White Challenge is made available as a single limited edition print. If you are interested, click here to purchase this print for only $36.50. I thank you for your support of my photography and this website.

The BLOG:

If you don’t count the many YouTube channels I am subscribed to, I actually watch very little television. However, at this time of the year, I am not too proud to admit that my wife and I get sucked into the horrific annual television event that is Married At First Sight.

The show is utter crap, and we love it.

The premise is, if the name doesn’t give it away for you, that two strangers are matched by three “experts” and first see each when they get “married”. After this, they are off on a honeymoon and then are thrust together over the next six to eight weeks in what is aptly described as a relationship “pressure cooker”. The “experiment”, as it is known, is designed to simulate a twelve-month relationship within six weeks with activities, a weekly dinner party and culminating in a quick “couch session” with the three experts where the couple individually decide whether to stay or leave. The catch being, if one says stay and the other says leave, they are there for another week.

One week into this year’s show and two grooms have already stormed out and are living in separate apartments from their “wives”.

The beauty of the show is truly in the editing. The way the stories are presented to us is most definitely a creation of the editors and producers.

We’ve already lost count of the number of times that both of us have yelled at the TV at one particular bride who claims to have done nothing to antagonise her partner although we’ve seen countless times that this is not the case.

One of my favourite reoccurring things is when someone complains quite openly that the person they have been matched with is not who they would “usually” go for, or is “nothing like past partners.” It is at this point that my wife and I (along with the experts) make the standard response, “And how has that worked for you in the past?” Or “And why are you here again?”

Also, you will never hear the word “intimacy” used so much in one ninety-minute show as you will on MAFS. Apparently, they can’t say “Sex”, as it’s always “Yes, we were intimate”, or “It’s been two weeks since we were initiated, I think he’s gone off me.”

I love the psychology of the whole thing and the sheer denial that goes on. There’s always a couple you root for (or is that “intimate for”) on the show and it’s come like a finals season where you countdown the days left and hope your “team” makes it over the line.

I’m pretty sure only about 5% of the couples make it past a year outside of the experiment.

Seriously, the show is SO bad, it’s good.

Please don’t leave this blog and me, I like having you around.

As always, join the Facebook Group if you haven’t yet, comment below, have a great day and I look forward to typing at you in the next post.

Richard

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# Photo Information 
Camera: Nikon D850
Lens: Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm 1:2.8G II ED (VR) @ 200mm 
Settings: 1/8000 | f/2.8 | ISO 100
When: Saturday January 29, 2022 @ 15:57
Where: Frankston, Victoria, Australia

# Useless Website Statistics
Post number: 160
Published: Wednesday February 16, 2022 @ 0701 AEDST
Composed: Sunday February 13, 2022
Scheduled Posts Ready To Publish: 3
B&W 365 Challenge: 46/365 (12.6% complete)
Candidates Folder: 18 (-2)
Podcast Queue: 215 episodes (+1), Current episode date: July 18th, 2021 - 214 days behind 
YouTube Subscription Videos Queue: 37 

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