Well yesterday was new picture day. The photo I had been using on eHarmony was just over a year old. I posted How to Get Better Online Dating Photos a few days ago. From that list I went with the first idea so far. A professional photographer, you know standing in front of weird colored backdrops trying to unnaturally create a natural looking picture. No forced smiles, weird grins or funny looks. That was the goal anyway. Out of 20 or so good shots, there were about 5 that I actually sort of liked.

I fall into the category of un-photogenic people. I don’t like to be in pictures because I don’t think I come off very well most of the time. At least after viewing some of these shots I hope that is the case. As the camera only duplicates what is sees is true, but it is just a split second representation. Just before or just after you may have actually looked good. I can count on one-hand photos taken of me over my 32 years that I like. Unfortunately an incredibly charming photo of you when you were 12 does you no good.

Some people just naturally shine in photographs. Some just don’t. Some look good in pictures, but that is where they should stay. Others should stay away from the camera because it just doesn’t do them justice and still others should stay away for other reasons. This is a problem for online daters. All we have to go on is the photos people post of themselves online. So we need to post something. It might as well be something good or at least as good as it can be.

Online dating profiles with pictures get significantly more views than ones without. This includes the profiles with the incredibly bad photos and shots you just can’t believe anyone would put online. So you should make the best of this fact and put up something decent that gives a respectable and honest representation of what you look like. If you actually meet someone in person they are going to notice if that is not the case. An instantly disappointed date is not what we are going for here.

We need to put our best photo forward, so to speak. So I went to Sunset Portraits in Everett, WA to get a few shots taken. Hoping a professional could get a good shot of me. Well at least the lighting would be good anyways. No face in the dark of a poorly lit and flash-less photo. No special effects. No need for red-eye removal. Just a decent shot of me for use online.

Not in the Everett/Seattle, WA area and want to try using a professional photographer, take a look at LookBetterOnline. You can search their network of photographers for one in your area and view samples of their work.

I had seen it before on their website while strolling around the old Internet but last night after seeing their ad multiple times on TV, I decided to go download it. What am I talking about? I am referring to the free guide from Match.com, How to Find the Right Person in 90 Days. I have only glanced at it so far. It is looks like a 12-week guide to finding out about you, so you can find out what it is you want and go get it. There will be more to come on this, as I take some time to read it more thoroughly.

Also, in the looking ahead category, I am getting some new pictures taken to use here on this site and in profile on online dating sites. Including eHarmony, which I am presently using. With this in mind I thought I would post some in-depth articles on pictures for dating online. An expansion on the basics I posted in, How to Get Better Online Dating Photos, last week. Some of the ideas for a series of articles, I have been thinking about are:

• What makes a good picture for online dating?
• What types of photos should I post?
• How many photos should I post in my profile?
• How do I get some good pictures?

Any other topics you wish to know about regarding pictures and there use for online dating? Let me know and I will see what I can find out.

This is just a couple of the subjects and ideas floating around here at eWooing. So comeback and we’ll see if we can improve are chances together of finding someone via our online dating journeys?

Last weeks site was focused on golf. This week is more about fitness in general. Do you have an active lifestyle? Does running, bodybuilding, dance, canoeing, rock climbing or yoga sound good to you? People who like these and many other active activities and are looking for partners can be found at Fitness Singles. They say they are the place, “Where relationships work out”.

You can search for people based on the types of sports and activities they like, along with all the other normal dating site search criteria. Looking through some of the profiles you definitely won’t find your proverbial coach potato here. If that is your thing then you should look elsewhere.

Fitness Singles was officially launched on August 18, 2003. The reasoning behind starting the site is:

The site provides a fun, private and secure environment to meet sports and fitness enthusiasts seeking relationships ranging from activity partners to romance. We believe relationships who are compatible in their fitness and health activities have a better chance of succeeding because anything you do together that you both enjoy is bonding.

So, if you would rather be working out than sitting here reading this, then Fitness Singles might just be the online dating service for you.

Have you ever Googled a potential date? Yourself? Anyone? You might be amazed at what you find. I was reading this article: Pre-date ritual: Googling potential mate. According to this article a lot of people are doing this before they meet someone for a date.

About 43 percent of people who answered a dating-service survey said they type their date’s name into the Google search engine before they go out. And 88 percent of those people said they wouldn’t be bothered if their dates did the same thing.

I mentioned the idea of doing a Google search in a post, More Truth in Online Dating, a couple of days ago, but didn’t try it out. Today I did. Just to see what I would find as the articles author suggested her readers should. So I went to Google and I typed jason griffin into the search box and clicked the search button.

There were about 959,000 results for jason griffin. So I went through the first few pages of results. They were quite fascinating. So if you have met a Jason Griffin, that lives in the Seattle area, online or elsewhere and has Googled me, I hope you find this page. Because this is what I found:

• These pictures of Jason Griffin taken by Craig Hamrick are NOT ME.
• The Assistant Professor, Ornamentals and Woody Plants at Kansas State, Dr. Jason J Griffin is not me.
• I am not the Jason Griffin working in radio in California.
• Not the Certified Instructor for the International TaeKwonDo Alliance, Jason Griffin either.
• The Jason Griffin that works in the Maintenance Dept. at Shelton State Community College, still not me.
• The Jason Griffin who wrote the article, Beginners Guide to Buying a Set of Golf Clubs, that actually IS ME.
• The Sgt. Jason Griffin, who became the 500th Guard for the Tomb of the Unknowns, once again was not me.
• Jason Griffin, the host of The Eagle 93.9 FM show, Griffin & Company, not me.
• I am also not the Jason Griffin that came in 7th at a No Limit Hold’em tournament back in March.
• And no matter how much my Mom wishes for the event to take place, the Jason Griffin in these wedding photos, is not me.

At least something of mine actually showed up on the first couple pages of results. Not that you would know that I wrote that. Unless you went from Google to the article posted at SearchWarp. Then clicked on the link there to my golf site, Guide to Golf Equipment. Then found the about me page on that site and clicked the link to this site. And then went to the About Jason page here and saw my picture and went: Yah, that’s the Jason Griffin I met. I doubt that would actually happen.

So, should a potential date in the Seattle area in the future Google jason griffin to find out about me, hopefully they will find this page amongst the results and actually find something by me and not all the other Jason Griffin’s out there.

Also, you might note, there is more than one Jason Griffin in the Seattle area. There are at least three others in the vicinity. With that in mind check the About Jason page on this site and view the photo. Is that the Jason Griffin that you met? If so, you have come to the right place. After reading around here, hope you still want to go out.