No matter one’s age or location, it’s a universal truth: Dating is hard.
That’s especially true in a digital age, when so many couples meet through dating apps and social media. Recently, TikTok and Instagram have been inundated with photos and videos of a more analog way to meet someone new: stranger photography sessions.
The trend has really picked up recently, but some regional photographers were ahead of the curve. Amanda Johnson of AMJ Photography, based in Northeast Ohio but offering stranger sessions in Southwestern Pennsylvania, has been pairing up couples for quite some time.
“I did my first one back in 2020, I think,” she said. “I saw someone do one, and I was just like, ‘I’m going to do this.’ ”
The concept is simple, if a little intimidating: Single individuals sign up for sessions, photographers pair them up with each other and then they do essentially a couples’ photography shoot together without meeting beforehand.
And it can be a fairly cheap date, too. Often, photographers will do the sessions at very low or no cost, for the sake of exposure or as a fun side project.
“I didn’t want to charge too much for these, because they don’t know each other, and if it goes nowhere, then you just have random pictures with somebody that you never use again,” said Esther Wareham of Esther Liz Photography, based in Tarentum. She charges $25 for her stranger sessions.
The demand for the unconventional date is surprisingly huge. Wareham said she got a ton of responses when she opened up applications recently.
“I’ve done six so far,” she said. “I have a lot scheduled. I have a lot who reschedule or drop out. It’s a lot with two people.”
Jolene Cribbs of Blairsville runs her photography business under JJemstone Photography. She said that she learned about stranger sessions this past June.
“I started advertising them and had 50 people sign up in the span of two days,” she said.
Johnson started to see a massive uptick in interest after the concept started to gain steam on social media. She has about 100 applicants on file.
“I’d say in the last four or five months, I’ve gotten a ton of applications,” she said.
Johnson did add that getting men to sign up is the real challenge; she definitely doesn’t have as many men as women in her pool of applications.
The process kind of resembles old-school matchmaking.
“I made up my own Google Form, which asks questions like, ‘What religion are you? What are five core values that you want in a partner? What is your height, eye color, hair color?’ And I match people based on the conversations that I have with people, what they would look like together, what vibes they give off,” Cribbs said.
“I go individually, one by one, and I’ll make notes for somebody,” Wareham said. “Then, as I’m going through, find a match. Then I go back through because sometimes I have multiple matches that could work.”
Johnson runs a similar form.
“I just ask your favorite hobbies and your life goals and what does your five-year plan look like? So I can put people together that would be most similar.”
Then it’s a matter of scheduling a time, choosing whether it’s an hour or half-hour session and determining where the shoot will be. Different photographers have different styles when it comes to choosing a setting.
Johnson has done themed shoots, with one staged around a car wash and one around a campfire.
“And then I just did an ’80s-inspired one,” she said. “I like to make them more interactive than just pose, smile, wave at the camera.”
Cribbs tries to find places that are both convenient for the couple and meaningful.
“For the first couple, I actually picked somewhere that they both grew up fishing,” she said. “It’s a horse farm with two lakes, and it’s just beautiful. My second one, I picked somewhere that was more of an in-between for both of them and matched the interests for both of them. Both of them like music, both of them like vinyl, so we actually did them in a vinyl record store.”
Wareham chooses scenic spaces for her shoots.
“That’s usually the easiest for everybody. I’ve done Deer Lakes Park. I did Harrison Hills for the last one. Then, the next ones I’m going to do around Northmoreland Park.”
But does it work? Results may vary; photographers have had people hit it off and become friends, and even some who have started dating, though that’s not an every-time thing. But even if it isn’t always a love story, participants are glad they said yes.
Michael McKenzie, 25, of Canton, Ohio, participated in a session with Johnson. He said he would absolutely recommend the experience.
“I’m a person who’s not really scared of trying new experiences, and I always put myself out there. I think anyone can do it,” he said.
Sammie Gurd, 26, of Youngstown, Ohio, was McKenzie’s partner in the session. “It was a lot of fun. There was nothing about it that made me feel uncomfortable or like it’s something I wouldn’t do again.”
She came to the concept from seeing them on social media.
“I thought they were cute, just a way to meet new people. So I just went out on a whim and applied for it.”
“It was a little bit on a whim, signing up for it,” McKenzie agreed. “Then immediately, Amanda contacted me and said she had a match for me. … I tried to show up in confidence and I was like, ‘OK, I’m excited for this, but I’m nervous.’ ”
Both participants had fun at the shoot, and they got some great photos out of it.
Even the photographers have a blast.
“I have told all of my single friends. I’ve been trying to get them to do it. I’ve got a couple that have done it, and they said it was so much fun,” Wareham said.