Ashley Middleton explores the fluidity of the real and the composition of a woman through written text in her self portrait series featuring anonymous posts from the “Missed Connections” section of Craigslist and introduces the digital bystander to a myriad of personalities and intimate encounters through photography. The self-portraits question the subtleties of attraction and our ability to augment the individual through fantasies, memories, and personal aesthetics. Missed Connections provides a space for individuals to post ads seeking strangers they previously encountered in real life. Their hope is to continue a visceral connection they perceived as real. Each portrait created was an attempt to understand how a community of individuals frame, and potentially disguise, their object of desire.