So. How’s everyone doing? This quarantine life is sure something, isn’t it? They said COVID-19 would majorly disrupt life. I didn’t think it would be like this. When I was stuck in quarantined, I thought I would interview my boyfriend about what it’s like dating a creative. I think I’m an entertaining ball of fun to be with, but let’s see what my partner has to say.

Glenn and I have been together for around 10 months. He is a flight instructor.

ME (ELC): Did you have any expectations about dating a creative?

GSD: Not really, I wasn’t aware of any stereotypes regarding the personal lives of creatives.

ELC: What is something that surprised you or something that you didn’t expect after dating me for a bit?

GSD: I was surprised at the emotional involvement in your self-critique process, I always viewed critique as an analytical process that involved looking at your mistakes logically, granted in my line of work there are objective standards that need to be met as opposed to the subjective nature of art.

ELC: Creatives tend to have rich emotional lives and be empaths at the core. How has this effected you?

GSD: It hasn’t really, as mentioned previously it was surprising the way your emotions played into your self-critique.

ELC: What is something about my creative nature that you just don’t get?

GSD: Nope, your creative nature is as much a part of you as my joy of flying is a part of me, makes it easy to relate to.

ELC: What has dating a creative helped you to learn?

GSD: It’s helped me learn an appreciation for looking at things from a creative viewpoint.

ELC: What do you like about dating a creative? What do you dislike?

GSD: I like that it gives me an excuse to get use the artistic side of my brain. I don’t get to use that much in my line of work.

ELC: You have an eye for good imagery. Talk to me about what it was like when I handed you my camera for the first time. Why did you choose the subjects you did?

GSD: It was a nice moment of trust, you handed me a piece of your livelihood and said go nuts. I chose the subjects based off what I thought looked good and an attempt to replicate photos I’ve seen in the past that I liked. For example the photo below, we were in a national park so I tried to emulate Ansel Adams.

Photo credit: Glenn Dodd. Editing Credit: Emma Carnine-Irwin. We both had Ansel Adams and a similar aesthetic in mind when shooting and editing.

ELC: What is your preferred medium of art?

GSD: I’ve always been partial to music and photography, they allow you to take a single subject and change it enough without losing the essence of the subject matter.

ELC: You’re not a fan of being photographed. How does that work with dating a photographer?

GSD: Given that you respect my boundaries and don’t photograph me when I ask you to not photograph me it seems like it works well.

ELC: What’s the most memorable thing you’ve witnessed from me while I’m working?

GSD: Your “freakouts” during your creative process, the stuff I hear you say is sometimes straight-up hilarious.