'An exciting way to meet people': Saskatoon photographer matches singles on blind date

A Saskatoon photographer is hoping to make some love connections through a unique blind dating. The idea came out of a need to help singles get offline and back to real in-person connections.

Meeting through online dating worked out for Saskatoon photographers Katie Lambe and Anthony Buziak, but they admit it’s often a rarity.

"I have heard from my friends, that dating is really difficult here. So, if there is a more, unique, genuine, authentic, exciting way to meet people other than saying just online, why not?” Lambe told CTV News.

In researching the work of others in her field Lambe came across a photographer who does blind dating sessions, modeled on something she saw on Tik Tok.

Lambe loved the idea and started ‘Sights Unseen YXE’.

The dating concept starts with a long questionnaire that Lambe has created, asking about likes and dislikes then she vets them personally.

“I have to meet the person first. I have to meet them over Zoom. I have to have a phone call with them. I have to make sure that these are actually nice people so that I can do the very best job that I can to facilitate safe spaces,” she said.

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The idea came from a photographer from the U.S.

Madison Underwood of Memories with Madison, calls them stranger dates sessions. She screens applicants and then matches them based on connections. After that, they meet for the first time, and they’re blindfolded. The photographer is there capturing the meet-up.

“It's cool because, you know, there's like some mystery to it, oh, they could go on a date or, you know, they could get married one day or, you know, further their future with each other,” Underwood said.

Back in Saskatoon Lambe has 13 women signed up between 25 and 60 years old. Now she’s waiting for men to sign up to start the matching process. She adds the project is inclusive of all types of couples and pairings.

“We are open to applications from anybody, any person, no matter how they identify, no matter their sexuality, no matter their nationality, it doesn't matter,” she said.

The session costs $150 and while it involves the couple’s photos, there are also individual shots, in the event things don’t work out.

“Take a chance, like, how often do we get to have fun and have genuine surprises like that? It's so rare to have that,” she said.

The art of face-to-face engagement is something Lambe wants to bring back to Saskatoon.

“We should be getting back to more face-to-face interactions. We're all spending too much time behind our phones. We're all spending too much time scrolling when we should be out, you know, taking a walk or making connections with other people.”