Everyone starts out as a silhouette to me. Just a shape, the bare outlines of a human being. Everyon

Everyone starts out as a silhouette to me. Just a shape, the bare outlines of a human being. Everyone, when I first see them, has nothing but edges, the outer limits that give barely anything away. Perhaps the odd clue here and there, but nothing concrete, nothing revelatory. Just hints and suggestions, a black space that makes a shape. 

But as I get to know you, the light shifts. It starts to circle around, revealing more and more of you as it turns. The way you eat your cereal in the morning, how you dress, your laugh. Each little piece another slotted into the puzzle, giving a clearer picture, another suggestion that’s a little bit more than I had before, but still doesn’t quite throw everything into clear focus.

I like this metaphor. I like how it works, the images it throws up. I like that, when you have that light circling a face, or a body, you get hints of the cheek bones, or the muscles of the neck cast into sharp relief. I like that these are things you don’t really see in full light, and I like the thought that when you’re getting to know someone, you see things people who’ve known them for years haven’t noticed. 

Obsession can be a beautiful thing. It can reveal, and uncover, things that are taken for granted. It can see the beauty in the mundane, and it can elevate the normal into the extraordinary. We’re all silhouettes to someone, it’s about finding the person that can frame you in your best light. The one that makes you look as beautiful as you are, but doesn’t need to shine a light in your face. 

Because no one looks sexy when they squint.