Welcome to SLsecrets, week 179

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“We’re on a Boat”

Welcome to SLsecret, week 178

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Do you run an original business in Second Life that opened AFTER November 1,2011?

If so you might want to consider applying for the Fresh Unknown Hunt.

Important bits:

1. Applications close Feb 5, 2012.

2. Male, Female, and Unisex items are needed for the hunt.

3. The theme is BRIGHT COLORS.

4. Item must be original creations. No BIAB items.

5. If you apply and your store moves please contact Evelyn Hartshon.
The hunt will run March 1 – 31, 2012.

Creator Application Form
Blogger Application Form

“An Unexpected Fairytale”

Credits available here: http://www.divinepatterns.net/2012/01/unexpected-fairytale.html

Welcome to SLsecret, week 177

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“Lights Out”

Picture taken in a shoot to show support for the SOPA Strike 1/18/12.

My websites are a drop in the bucket when it comes to traffic/notoriety but I’ve never approved of censorship on the Internet. The RIAA and MPAA have always implemented measures that have done more harm than good in stopping piracy.

http://sopastrike.com/

If you are an American you need to write your representatives ASAP!

If you are not an American and your country is thinking about passing a law similar to this (or laws) PLEASE do what you can to make sure it does not become a law.

Sorry about the inconvenience,

Kesseret

Welcome to SLsecret, week 175

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“Sweet Darlin’”

I have a confession to make. I forgot about the picture tonight, first time in a year and a half. So, here’s a pic that I took this weekend with Mike, he styled the pic, I took the shot.

]]> http://shoppingcartdisco.com/uncategorized/sweet-darlin/feed/ 0 http://shoppingcartdisco.com/uncategorized/slsecret-week-175/ http://shoppingcartdisco.com/uncategorized/slsecret-week-175/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:00:53 +0000 Iris Seale http://shoppingcartdisco.com/?p=23432  

Welcome to SLsecret, week 175

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Usually Iris does the top 10 post. This is the post where she tallies up the top 10 posts for the years and top views and visits. It’s delayed because I am doing it. Sorry about that!

However, it’s pretty interesting who was our favorite author in the year 2011! I also noticed a little bit of fashion and positive tossed into the drama!

1. SLSecret   (Just like last year SL Secret posts were all over the top posts for this year.)

2.  On Lynch Mobs

3. The Truth

4. Pookie Discusses SL Secrets

5. Saturday Style: Walk of Shame

6. What I Like #12

7. Lourde’s Slife of Luxury – Diesel Works Chairs

8. Bred Out

9. Please

10. The Witch Hunt

Top 10 Search terms for SCD for 2011:

1. Shopping Cart Disco 6,009
2. Magicka 3,481
3. Pro Ana 1,492
4. lingerie 916
5. rest in peace 908
6. sexy child  870 (sickos)
7. mord sith  859
8. post secret 665
9. sl secrets 648
10. shoppingcartdisco 635

(I wonder if Frank sees search terms for SL Secrets on Postsecrets?)

All time views:

2,009,464

Thank you for being a reader of SCD and for supporting us during the good times and the bad.
May 2012 be a wonderful year for SCD, it’s staff, and readers!

Love,

Kesseret

“Never Enough Time”

Stores Featured: Glam Affair, Celoe, Vive 9, Slink, MIEL, Long Awkward Pose

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Daytime%20Dreams/40/88/21

~Cady Fretwerk

I want to highlight the work of Karro Lean this week. She has a stunning collection of work on both Flickr and KoinUp as well as on her travel blog filled with the richness of Second Life. Karro Lean has an eye for finding magic and beauty everywhere. She makes me excited to explore places that I have already seen, because she saw them in new ways that made me eager to look again.

I have stopped and admired the installation outside Doll*Coco a few times and seen some fabulous photos, but this one is so arresting. The interplay of light and shadow is wonderful. The angle shot from below and using the frame to frame the installation is do perfect. I love the light coming through under the upper inside of the frame.

Isn’t this magical? We all know that windlight can do wonderful things in Second Life, but this example is pure magic. I love that she used complementary yellow and blue with the white break in between. I love the simple pattern she makes, the trees a horizontal line paralleling each stand of trees just as the pieces of the triptych parallel each other. I know I have highlighted her work before, but her portfolio is so varied, it is impossible to give you an true idea of her body of work with just a few pictures.

I tried to choose a few pictures that would offer an exemplar of her work, but her photos are so unique that there really is no way to say this or that single one is an example of what she does. What I can say is that she goes places in Second Life and looks above, below and behind to see what is intriguing and beautiful. What I can say is that she chooses different ways of shooting each place – showing them at their best, in their best light, from their best angle What I can say is that she makes Second Life exciting.

I like this photo from Bouncer Criss for Pixel Phasion 4 Men. It’s a natural looking photo, a guy loitering in an alley watching a truck driving by. However, there are some great touches such as the blue of the truck echoing the blue in the shirt. The subject looks into the picture, across the frame. It’s a good composition. And of course, the truck defies gravity, something trucks in Second Life so often do.

This photo from Buffy Holfe is striking and bold. I love that she cropped so close, leaving us to complete his face from the portion she shows. I love the contrast between bright and dark and the texture details that outline portions of the mask. His face is angled, making a strong diagonal edge and giving us many strong lines and a large  triangle of negative space to counter the image.

I love how Harbor Galaxy made this photo look like a sketch with such a light touch. By adding a texture layer and noise, she gives us a sketch instead of a photo and true to the form she presents, she reduces the level of detail. The collar, the background the feathers lose their definition, giving it that impressionistic sketch quality. It’s lovely.

This client photo from Kaelyn Alecto is stunning. It’s cropped nice and tight and all the details are fully rezzed and expressed. The whites are bright and blacks are deep and inky, so that it has not of that soft, faded feeling of many black and whites. This is sharp, fresh and modern. I love how the subject’s personality comes through. She looks alert, curious and lively. She has the face of someone lively and active and fun, but who has a take no prisoners approach to life. She looks like she has done many of the things on her bucket list already.

I love this picture from Geraldina Broona for El Vestidor de Julieta. The pose is elegant and shows of the dress beautifully. The desaturated colors creates a gentle, contemplative mood. Although the subject looks out of the frame, she is turned toward it and would move forward into the frame if and when she moves.

I love this shot by Miyoko Magic for Helamiyo. The black and white background is a great contrast to the bold scarlet of her body suit and shoes. This photo emphasizes the exaggerated style of the shoes effectively by having her walk up the stairs, one foot raised. The expression of motion makes us think about the shoes and how one can walk in them. I assume much more easily in Second Life, don’t you? The red hair gives us another red element that balances the body suit and the shoes. The stairs give us diagonals to wake up both sets of visual receptors (horizontal and vertical)  and get us all excited and the position of the subject relative to the stairs gives us a triangle, making our pattern recognition brain cells happy. The subject is at a vertical third, looking into the frame with a clear direction to move into the picture. There are so many elements of good composition at work that it’s no wonder this photo grabbed my attention when it was an itty-bitty thumbnail.

I love the raw energy in this picture by Madeline Zenfold for I Will Fear No Evil. The exaggerated pose seems perfect in conjunction with the tall buildings. Buildings made by giants require giant steps. There are lots of diagonal lines to get us intrigued and grab our attention. I like that she crops portions of the subject away. It’s not a problem, we can complete the picture in our heads and that makes u part of it. She trusts us to make it our own.

Recall the apology note in the original post. For reference here it is:

(you should be able to click on this to read it better…)

I specifically want to point out the part in the 2nd paragraph where she mentions she sold her car a while back and donated the money. Then says she used the money for a sim for the headquarters but couldn’t maintain the rent.

Why does this matter?

It was pointed out to me a blog post on the Superhero Epilepsy Combat Brigade blog where Epileptic Dreddmor posted she sold her car to buy a digital SLR and to put into savings.

There has been much more peace in my life, allowing me to simplify things. I sold my car that I bought new four years ago and have been using the proceeds to put away in savings but also to purchase and SLR camera to boost up the quality of my art. I wandered away from photography for awhile and art in general because I felt stuck and distracted by my Epilepsy and all the crap that goes with it. Now I have more clarity, I feel the windows have been opened and it’s a fresh day.

(from http://superheroepilepsycombatbrigade.blogspot.com/2011/06/pendulum-finally-swings-back.html)

Don’t believe me? Here’s a screenshot:

Maybe this person owns more than 1 car. Maybe there’s a perfectly legit explanation for the discrepancy. Or maybe even the ‘coming clean’ notecard includes lies in it. Just some food for thought.

I’m going to start off by saying that the Props and Pose Fair came to my attention too late to sign up for it as a creator, which I might’ve done. However, when it came to my attention – several people, both FRIEND & FOE warned me off any interest of participation. There were accusations of misuse of money, not paying the charity and shenanigans in general. I only slightly knew of one person involved and I noted this and moved on with my cartoon existence. Honestly, often people get their panties in a bunch and accusations of theft and dishonesty are easy to toss out – yet, I thought it was interesting a lot of people seemed to have reservations.

Yesterday, however, Toast Bard blew the doors of doubt off of this event by posting on plurk a link to a RECEIPT GENERATOR website (why does such a thing exist?) and proving, truly beyond a shadow of a doubt that receipt provided as proof of payment for last year’s event was faked. The image below is a screen cap Toast Bard provided on her plurk timeline and is used with her permission.

Till Hapmouche made a side by side comparison of the provided receipt and the receipt generator template, and  they’re identical. This next image is used with permission of Till Hapmouche, thank you Till.

The avatar in question, regarding this fair and the receipt issue is named Epileptic Dreddmor and/or Sweaty Badger. As these events unfolded yesterday, another event organizer, Evelyn Hartshon stepped up and took control of the situation. The fair has since been closed and Evelyn has posted information on the blog, and is endeavoring to create the transparency incumbent upon an charity event.

You can find updates regarding the situation as it stands and the donation HERE on the blog.

A notice was sent to the group with this as an apology/explanation/what you will.

At this point most of this is fairly straightforward, and I’ll leave editorial commentary to you lot.

Thank you to Evelyn Hartshon for stepping up to deal with the situation and trying to right things.

As an aside, Toast Bard made a donation online yesterday to see what sort of receipt notification would be received.

It looks like this.

She donated instantly and was instantly sent this as a receipt. There was no issue contacting them.

In the shadow of all of this, I’d like to remind everyone – and even suggest you PUT DOWN THE PITCHFORKS AND TORCHES FOR JUST ONE MOMENT YES SET THEM OVER THERE, I PROMISE NO ONE WILL TAKE THEM, that this one event is not indicative of “all charities”. It truly isn’t.

There was a lot of rumbling about “and this is why I don’t give to charities.”

I think that’s sad. So many people work very, VERY hard to create transparency and charity events that are meaningful fundraisers in SL. Kesseret and I had a small fundraiser last year, in memory of our friend Cajsa’s cat who died. Kesseret probably spent two hours between emails and documentation just to donate a couple hundred bucks to an Oregon humane society. Given that experience, I can’t imagine HOW much time and effort putting together a large scale fundraiser would be. I think it’s unfair to color all events with the same brush of doubt and dismay.

I am probably an unlikely person to write this as I’m not a columnist here at SCD but Kesseret is busy and as a poser this is kind of close to my heart. I’d like to leave you with just one more thought as I head out into my day.

“In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.” ~ Anne Frank

My thanks to Till Hapmouche, Mavi Beck and Toast Bard who graciously allowed me to use images they provided.

Sal’s Favorites

Lourdes’ Favorites

It’s 2012! I hope your New Year festivities were good fun and  the coming year is a healthy and happy one. For me, I hope I continue to find pleasure in highlighting the fabulous art and fashion photography from Second Life. January 1st was the four-year anniversary of my own fashion blog and looking back to those old posts, I marvel at how much Second Life photography has advanced in that time. With Windlight, Depth of Field, and Lights and Shadows, we have so many more tools to work with. Of course, that makes the learning curve for taking a photo progressively steeper, which is why I thought I would remind you that there are lots of great tutorials out there to help everyone improve their skills.

I love this photo from Aelin Quan. It brought me to a complete stop, startled by how very different it is from the usual Second Life photos with its bold, pop art colors and shapes. She took a bold shot in-world and added a couple textures and made it come alive with color. The horizon is closer to 2/7ths than 1/3rd, but it’s close enough when she is balancing it with the sky above the tree. I am glad she has her back to us, it takes us into the horizon as does the reach of the tree branches. It’s a fabulous work, one I would gladly hang in my living room.

I love this photo as well. Again she took a landscape photo in Second Life and then used textures to give it a painterly texture and sensibility, adding depth and visual intensity. In this one, the horizon is at one-third. The junk is perfectly placed to get our attention and seems to be turned so that it’s “looking into the frame” so to speak – with room to move. The suggestion of dawn on the horizon is a sort of visual embrace of the boat – giving it more life and color. Aelin Quan’s photostream is full of fabulous works of art – including some from outside Second Life. Spend some time there, it’s a stream worth exploring.

I love The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear and was delighted with this illustration created in Second Life by Arnovial Cale of Right Click and Buy. It captures all the wit and whimsy of the poem with the scribbled waves and stars. It makes me think of the joy of childhood and early morning fishing with my dad looking across the pellucid lake that seemed to be lit from above and below by the early dawn light. Everything you need to learn of patience can be learned fishing.

I like this picture from Mariska Tiponi for Style Me Silly. She did a fabulous job of styling a Twiggy look to suit that dress. I like that she includes more contemporary rings so that her vintage look is vintage, not costume. In terms of composition, sheis offset and looking into the frame. The tablecloth give us a diagonal line to get both our vertical and horizontal receptors firing, exciting our interest.

I like this photo from Bahia Pessoa for Bahia’s Life. I like the contrast between the dark avatar and the white background, not just in color but in the sharpness of focus. There’s something a bit eerie and arresting seeing that ball-joint doll dancing without a head. I have to love the mind that comes up with that idea and executes it so well. I love the angle she used, putting the chess board on the diagonal so that there are so many leading lines that engage our eyes fully.

I like this picture from Kathya Szczepanski for Worn Clothes.  She’s beautifully styled and everything is fitted to the pose so well, her earring falling behind her ear, her bag to her side. Even her SL hands, a notorious difficulty look natural.  I thought I might highlight this because her slug illustrates so well how to effectively label your photos. It’s semi-transparent so it doesn’t leap out at you for attention, but it’s not so small and obscure that it draws attention by being hard to decipher. It’s there, clear, not a puzzle. Also, you can see that it is not in her line of sight. You never want to place the slug in the subject’s line of sight, so you don’t want to fall into the trap of always putting it in the same place. It’s placement should vary according to the photo so that it doesn’t obscure details. It’s fine to cover the sweater, there’s already enough visual information and no specific details that we can complete the image mentally.

I like this picture from Minamikaze Oh for her self-titled blog. There are some really stunning composition elements here. The “horizon” where the sidewalk meets the wall follows the rule of thirds. She is posed off-center and looking into the frame. You get some great geometry from the wall behind her, diagonals in the grate and the tree graffito behind her. I love that she found graffiti that echoes the colors in her clothing. Taken as a whole, it’s genius.

I like this composite from Vixy Oshikawa of [.VIX] because it wisely flouts so many of the conventions of composites. The two pieces are not of equal size nor are the shot in the same lighting. While the poses are similar, they are not opposites. The stronger, bolder pose with the more avant garde outfit and the more softer pose with the more naif. It’s just really a brilliant show of contrast and similarity.

And last, but most certainly not least, this unedited photo from Graphic Dix for a tutorial on lighting and reflections he offers us at Modavia Fashion Marketing. What is there to say? I admire how he explores the possibilities and works to execute his vision with such passion and excellence. Then he shares what he learns with us, what more can we ask?

Teleport to Etheria

Welcome to SLsecret, week 174

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There was a need for a simple calendar where shoppers could see what is coming up and going on and for event organizers to check when there would be dates open for them to plan their events.

So the Second Life Events Calendar was created. The rules are very simple, the calendar is to be used for events lasting a week or longer this includes hunts, charity events, yearly/quarterly events that do NOT occur every week or month.

The organizers of the calendar are Sanura Snowpaw & Arora Zanzibar

the Urls are

Calender http://bit.ly/SLEventsCalendar

Submit your event http://bit.ly/SLEventsCalendarSubmit

SCD has put the Events link at the top of the main page to forward to the SL Events Calendar.

Fifty columns and 350 different artists! It’s been a lot of work and a lot of fun and I hope to keep on in the new year. I am eager to see what the new year will bring in art and fashion and in Second Life.

Enola Loon’s photostream may be small, but it is mighty. Full of fabulous landscapes and imaginative compositions, you can see that has a masterful grasp of light and color. THe sky is amazing,. It looks as though she used some texture layers to give us some rain in the distance and the magnificent rainbow. You can see where she is going as she has room to move in the frame and is looking into the frame toward the building. The line of the grass and the brown line also lead our eyes in that general direction. I love the light playing on her hair.

In this photo from Enola Loon, texture layers add age, dimension and create a mood. I love the mood in this picture – very romantic and emotive. With her upraised face and hands clasped together, she seems to be wishing for something vitally important. It makes me wonder what she is wishing for and whether she will find it.

I love the world-weary look and pose in Rainey Manx’s photo for her blog No Rainey Days. Doesn’t she seem to have a bit of cabin fever? It’s a great story-telling photo and yet so very simple, all of the story coming from her eyes, the slight slump of her pose and her casually, slightly unkempt hair that together suggest exhaustion and ennui.

I think Steffy Ghost’s photo from Pratukessaibas is just plain amazing. I am always intrigued by things that are a bit strange and macabre, and this, despite the sweetly feminine setting complete with kitty cat, is still macabre. I love the contrast of the matter-of-fact pose with the extraordinary rabbit-doll avatar.

In that same vein, I was drawn to this photo from Estella Magic for Confessions of a Broke SL Shopaholic. I love the color treatment she gave it whether with windlight or a post processing color adjustment. It gives warmth to the photo and softens the bright lights and bright white and bold red color contrast.

I like this snap from Yasmin Kira for Casa de Yasmin. I like the composition with her off center just a touch with the rug forming diagonal lines that draw you to her. I notice the rule of odds at work with three clusters of lights (the tree, the fire, the candles) and five uses of red. The set dressing is charming and makes a good setting for the fun outfit. I am impressed with the care taked to make sure the present she’s carrying is placed perfectly. The color scheme is muted and limited so the visual punch of the lights and red is stronger.

I love the composites from Deeta Aeon for Bierno and Deeta. She does a good job of making sure that the two pictures relate to each other by angling them toward each other or having them look toward each other. That combined with great styling made the entire series eye-catching.

I love the chiaroscuro intensity in Evion Ember’s photos for Another Damn SL Blog. The deep inky blackness makes the gold in the chair, the red in the dress and the milky skin really pop. It looks like she may have layered a copy of the photo on top of itself with a soft light layer blend to give us that intense color contrast – though she may have had to make a few curve adjustments to bring up the brighter colors. That super-saturated red sort of leaps off the screen and grabs your eyes with its claws, doesn’t it?

“Life’s a happy song, with someone by my side to sing along”

Stores Featured: Glam Affair, Exile, Jane, Maitreya, Dahlinks, The Body Co, Schadenfreude, Lotus Noir, Find Ash, Le Salon de Muse, Nodari, Studio Sky

Pose by: Abernathy Fretwerk

One of the things I often wonder is why the rules of composition work the way they do. For example, why are diagonal lines more compelling than straight ones? Why are triangles more appealing than circles and squares? Luckily for me, my best friend teaches Neurobiology and Sensory Physiology and she had an explanation at hand. In the case of diagonal lines, we have neurons that fire when we see vertical lines and another set that fire when we see horizontal lines, but when we see diagonal lines, both clusters of neurons fire and that increased neural firing increases our interest, engagement and enjoyment. In the case of triangles, it’s related to a different area of our cerebral cortex that focuses on facial recognition. We see faces as triangles and our facial recognition neurons get excited when we see triangles. In fact, those neurons are constantly seeking and finding triangles in the bends and folds and lines, looking for faces and getting all excited about it. Art and Science – two very different schools of thought and yet both, coming from their separate paradigms have uncovered the same secrets about how we see and experience the world. How amazing is that?

Amelie Knelstrom AKA Arivae has such a quietly contemplative photostream that one can get lost in it for a long time. It is certainly one of the most deeply personal and emotionally naked galleries I have seen. Her work is very impressionistic, suffused with subtlety and grace.

Her work feel intimate and tender – even in this photo shot from a distance. She has reduced the contrast and desaturated this photo to the point that you have to make an effort and help complete the image, drawing you in, making you involved in the story and making you care.

Her titles and descriptions are integral to her work as well as in this one, “Take your feelings to the sea and watch them float away.” Her work touches me emotionally. Her art is sometimes achingly vulnerable, breathtaking in her courage to risk and lay herself bare for us to see.

I really like this photo from Miaa Rebane for her self-titled blog. A big part of it is the fabulous center pose and how perfectly it relates to the left side of the composite. By doing the 3/4 crop on the right from almost, but not quite the same pose as the left picture, she creates almost a pull-out. Together the three parts make strong verticals and put together, they work beautifully.

I like this photo from Cate Ying for SLexy Fashionista. I like its simplicity and quirky styling. When styling an outfit that is fun and quirky with lots of accessories, it’s a good idea to simplify the background and the pose so that the accesories stand out. I love the lat with the bowtie on a chain and the pigtails with the monocle. It’s just fun styling that made me smile.

I like this portrait from Dana Yatov for Second Life Fashion. Again, styling is part of the reason I like it, the complexity of the feathers countered by the severity of the hairstyele.  The bold, black earrings that are big enough to not be lost with that dress. It’s an excellent photo though, cropped close and filling the frame.

I like this photo from Olela Parx for Olela Alert! I love the desaturated, color-adjusted look that makes it feel like an aged photo. In terms of composition, the horizon is at two-thirds and the subject is on a vertical third.  The lines made by the ice and now add interest as well.

I like the angle in this photo from Daniela Riaxik from Shay and SL Shopping Gang, though frankly, I was hard pressed to choose from the three pictures in her post. The three shots are the same pose from three angles and all were beautifully composed. I chose this one because of how beautifully she ucses the lighthouse to frame the picture. The horizon is at one-third and the subject looks into the frame. Actually, her look is so intent, she seem to be burning a hole in the other side of the frame.

I like this photo from Rehana Seljan for Rehana in Wonderland. This is a lovely composite. What I like is how she fit them together rather than just adding two equal-sized and shaped halves. The one on the right leans back and into the other, nearly paralleling her arm. She looks over her shoulder toward the other who looks toward her – making the two shots interact with each other and bringing the composite together beautifully.

Welcome to SLsecret, week 173: Christmas Edition

Merry Christmas from the SCD Family. We will be spending the holiday with our families. Therefore any removal requests will have extended delays.

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“You’ll Always Be My Thunder”

Stores Featured: Glam Affair, League, NSD, Artilleri, MIEL, Elikatira, What Next

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Cupcake/27/160/36

**Special Thanks to Luna Jubilee, who encouraged me to try a picture without shadows on since I’m currently unable to use them.  So this is the rawest of the raw from SL**

Did you know that they can map your brain’s reaction to works of art? They have been doing it for some time, actually, trying to quantify and analyze aesthetic pleasure. Sadly, this sort of research is the kind that probably will enable ad agencies to make more effective commercials. Oxford University published some interesting research this month that is a combination of stating the obvious and demonstrating how puzzling aesthetic pleasure is. It seems we are biologically hard-wired for brand snobbery. People’s responses to art works were more complex and stronger when they were told it by a famous artist than when when it was not. “Our study shows that the way we view art is not rational, that even when we cannot distinguish between two works, the knowledge that one was painted by a renowned artist makes us respond to it very differently.” That’s the old “Give me the Chanel bag and not one those cheap knockoffs” in another field. Knowing that we are hard-wired to appreciate what has already been given society’s stamp of approval should make us a little more patient with the similarity of people’s lists of favorite this and thats.

I think Sanam Sewell’s work can get those neurons firing in all sorts of complex ways without the imprimatur of art historians, though she has so many faves that perhaps that is the same thing. Her work is exciting and alive with movement. You really have to go swim in her photostream – it will take your breath away. Her work is very impressionistic, full of color and movement and life.

Here is another of Sanam Sewell’s works. Using Ctl-8 to exaggerate his features, she gives him the attenuated look of an El Greco subject. The brilliant use of light and shadow all work to make this fascinating and to bring him alive with character and personality.

Last one – just because, again, it is so fresh and exciting and I am hoping to persuade you to spend a good, long time enjoying her gallery of work. She has a fresh and exciting vision of what can be done with Second Life photography and is producing true works of art that deserve our attention. See Sanam Sewell’s Photostream.

I like this composite from Jeanie Waydelich for Costa Rica Sims blog. The four pieces in the composite relate to each other – not just in that they are the same woman in the same outfit, but that they turn toward each other, forming a connection. They also capture the elements of the dress beautifully while never showing the entire outfit – giving our imagination something to work on which is always a bonus.

This photo from Rei Tuki just makes me smile and feel happy. A 1000 words cannot express the feeling plunking down in the snow on a sunny day, but if you have ever done it and just sat there in the snow, letting the cold sneak through your clothing and experimenting with the sun’s power – feeling the heat and the cold where there is sun and shadow. It’s a child’s game and that magic is lost with science and comprehension, but this photo brings it back. I love it.

I love this photo from Aida Ewing for S.Luxury. She solves the dilemma of the wind-blown scarf in front of a windless landscape by giving us an abstract background that still suggests landscape. Everything about this photo and the others in the post is lovely and beautifully done. The background is blurred with a bit of bokeh and the snow is swirling, falling at one angle on the left and another on the right – just as it does when the wind is blowing. It is one of the best treatments of wind. The hair styles also suggest the action of the wind at work, as do his clothes and her dress is sheltered by his body a bit, so it all works in one of the best examples of exploiting windblown prims I have seen.

So, I just picked all three of Leah McCullough’s photos from this post, pasting the link for one, then the next, then the other – because they are just all three so fantastic. So go check out her blog post and tell me which one I should have chosen.

I love the angle in Journey Lorakeet’s picture for Prim Game Proper. This gives us so many great lines and angles, but what makes is special is the solid eye contact from that angle and the sense of purpose suggested by the angle of her legs – telling us she is moving or about to move. Notice the angle is the same as the angle of the wall behind her? By changing angles she took a basic shot and made it visually complex and arresting.

I love this little landscape from Ysé Ah for her travel blog, Ysé sliffeuse et gloodeuse. She added a texture layer that gives it a rich painterly look. It’s beautiful. I can imagine it framed in a distressed, lime-waxed gold frame on my wall. It would look wonderful.

This photo from Snow Tigerpaw for Snow Fantasies is artfully composed with the three avatars. We naturally like groups of three. We also like the triangle shape more than any other and we get multiple triangles from the poses and strings. The vignette shading emphasizes the central avatar, the puppeteer, as is should be. This is a very editorial shot and engaging on multiple levels.

Credentials are essentially meaningless when it comes to art. The best art education in the world can teach technique and theory, but cannot give one something to say, cannot teach vision or point of view. It’s the inner spark and willingness to expose and risk oneself that makes an artist great. Consider Jean Michel Basquiat, the great contemporary artist whose work has influenced so many current artists. A high-school dropout from a poor family who began his career spray-painting buildings and selling t-shirts and postcards, yet a few years ago one of his works sold for $15 million. He had something to say and it didn’t matter that he didn’t have credentials. In Second Life, almost none of us have credentials. We will be judged not on who we say we are, but what we do and the work we produce. That’s tremendously liberating – and gives everyone who sees themselves as an artist the chance to be one. Whether they succeed or not depends on whether they have something to say and whether they have the courage to risk themselves to express that vision.

Lanay has something to say and effectively expresses her vision. I don’t need to know her credentials or even her last name to know that this photo has a point of view. She took a shot of a sculpture at Rebeca Bashly’s Arctica Dreams show and added her own point of view. The contrast of fire and ice is fundamental and eternal and bringing that element into the photo adds a new tension that was not there.

Here she looks at the contrast between light and shadow and again creates this strong dichotomy that shows the world through her point of view. Her KoinUp gallery is rich with fabulous landscapes that make magnificent use of light. There is so much to choose from that choosing one was hard. I chose this because it is just so beautiful. I am a lover of trees and of the close-in landscapes. There’s such a sense of anticipation and delight in this photo – and don’t you just want to walk toward the light?

So this week is Christmas and my gift to myself is to just indulge myself and toss out my one Flickr Artist all the rest bloggers rule and highlight what caught my attention no matter why or where.

I love this photo from Jaja Lubitsch. Only a small portion of the photo is in focus while the rest is blurred. This creates an emotional connection for me, that blurring suggesting that she is lost in her own world at the moment, daydreaming of another, perhaps happier time. It disconnects her from the here and now and puts her into a reverie. There’s a sadness to her emotions signaled by her pose with her knees drawn up close to her chest, a position people often adopt when feeling lonely or sad. This photo doesn’t tell us a lot, it demands we write the story and that makes it fascinating.

I like this picture from Caótica Mai for Caótica May en SL. Her angle makes the photo so much more interesting and gives the pose sharp geometry. I love her use of just three colors and how that red just explodes on the page. It’s a striking editorial style photo that makes me sit up and take notice.

I love this romantic photo from Villemo Inglewood for her blog. Did you notice how the tree branches have the most unlikely curves in their curlicued reach? That’s brilliantly echoed by the MADDesign hair that she chose – a styling decision that make the photo so much more intriguing.

This picture from Amelie Fravoisse of Amie Fashion reminds me of that childhood wonder at the light fluffy flakes that seem to hold bits of sunshine in their crystals as they fall. That simple upward look with the head tilted back expresses the mood wonderfully.

I love the dreamy richness of Ilanit Orsini’s portrait here. I don’t know how many ladybugs venture out in the snow and certainly wish them well, but I love that element of red on her shoulder and the surprise it creates. I love that the tree branches on her head are more alive than the ones in the background – her mind a restorative magical place, obviously. The composition here is brillaint wiht her forearm coming into line with her shoulder to form a strong line that divides the foreground from the background.

I like the interesting crop that Summer Deadlight used for this photo for Fashion Art Beauty. It put our focus on the outfit and creates a sense of urgency and import. Summer often plays with light and this photo is no exception – blowing out a lot of the detail but adding energy and heat and a sense of power.

I like this photo from Evangeline Eames for Vinyl Cafe Addicts. The pose shows off the dress beautifully. She always put thought into her pose choice and composition that delivers consistently interestingly framed and composed photos while making the clothing the star in every shot.

Alicia Chenaux’s photo for her Ch’know blog journal is one of those story-telling moody photos that always draw me in. The pose itself is emotionally evocative, but use a blue-tint to the lighting and then adding that vignette framing increases the somber, sad and lonely feeling of the picture. The tears don’t hurt either.

I like Untouchable from ✿LILY✿ with it’s elements of whimsy and delight. There’s something about it that makes me think of Georges Seurat and it’s not the umbrella. There’s some noise in the photo from texturing or from the rain and fog that create a bit of the idea of pointillism, perhaps that is it. Some of that impression comes from her use of light as well. Whatever her intent, I think the photo is magical.

This piece from Nevery Lorakeet is called Cold Portrait. I love the stark lighting that emphasizes the contrast between her skin and her clothing and the brilliant use of white space to give what is essentially a relatively straightforward photo more dramatic power and interest. It’s a photo that caught my eye as a tiny thumbnail and won’t let go.

This picture from Dolly Baroque of Double Exposure is a lot of fun. It is clearly a story-telling photo and captures a feeling we all have in common, the tedium of a hard job that we don’t like to do. I like her pose and her world-weary expression. It’s different from the usual fashion blog photo but it really has a point of view and I salute that.

Amazon Silverweb shot this for Emlie’s Inventory and isn’t it just dreamy? The pose expresses that joy and abandon that we all wish we felt and can imagine ourselves experiencing as we run slow-motion through the meadow. Seriously, when you are wearing something this dreamy, you will run in slow-motion with fog filters. Her angle shot from below just adds to that feeling of floating on air.

Margot Muhindra is so skilled at creating a sense of intimacy and connection. Her photos tug at my heart and capture my imagination. I find myself imagining stories to go with them. In this, with her white gloves and pocketbook she looks ready to go to chuch, leaving someone behind  under those rumpled covers. She has a look of sadness and apprehension at leaving so I wonder why and different storylines pop into my head and because her pictures can make me imagine not one life but several, I love her work.

Welcome to SLsecret, week 173.

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Taste is subjective. Another person doing this same column would include a different collection of works. I can see how my taste in art in RL affects my preferences in SL. My favorite artists are Klee, Kandinsky, Klimpt, de Lempicka, Munch and Mondrian. They are all very different, though I sense a wild vision in each of them. Something that sees more than the surface and struggles to express it, to reveal what is there, but unseen.

Maloe VanSant is like that. She shows beneath the surface and reveals what is hidden. I was first drawn to her work by this homage to Tamara de Lempicka. It’s brilliant. It is completely new, not a copy of something de Lempicka did, but still instantly recognizable as being in the style of de Lempicka.

Maloe VanSant does so much more, though, than pay homage to a few great artists. She breaks her own ground pushing the boundaries of Second Life artistry to new territories. I could devote this entire column to the many different experiments and techniques she brings to her work. Take this one, which I assume was shot with Global Illumination. It’s stunning in its simple composition and complex realization. It challenges our notions of the limits of Second Life art. Right next to it in her stream is the same composition shot in a different viewer. I challenge you to browse her photostream and not feel that your understanding and expectations of what can be done with art in Second Life has been challenged and enlarged.

I love this photo from Annittaa Darcy and Arnovial Cale of Right Click and Buy. She is offset and moving across the frame with plenty of space to move – and the walking statues also have room to move. I love how she is spaced right between them, her straight-legged gait echoing theirs. She is placed at the intersection of the two lines formed by the shoreline and the sand bar – reinforcing her central role in the photo.

I love this picture of the christmas bunny by Morgana Hira for So Hawt SL. I love the lighting that shows the bunny is such stark relief of bright light and dark shadow. That contrast of light and dark gives the avatar a slightly mysterious, maybe even sinister edge.That tilt of his head. I am not sure if he’s a Santa Bunny or a Santa Burglar Bunny.

I like this photo from Adara Cascarino of The Messy Little Closet. With the bright, yellow light coming from below, you can almost feel the heat from the fireplace warming up her feet. At that angle there’s a bit of foreshortening that strengthens the emphasis on the warming light from the unseen fire. That’s the magic in this picture, making you see what is just outside the frame of the photo.

I like this shot from Connie Arida. It’s a simple three-quarter shot made remarkable with the details and the tension that her poised for movement pose engenders. With Connie Arida’s work, I always admire her attention to cleaning up the stray prims in the hair and the squared off corners in the avatar mesh. She makes it look so easy and always shows the clothing at its best.

I like the story-telling quality of this photo from MokoTana Boa of Moka’s Way.  I like that there is rain in front of  the subject as well as behind. It’s surprising how many avatars in Second Life can be shot in the rain without having any rain drops in front of them, as though they have a force field that repels all rain. Sh has the subject placed on a vertical third and her body is turned into the frame. She’s testing the rain with her hand in a fabulous pose that tells the story. I also love the bright read accents that add color power to the photo.

I like this photo from Nahura Kurosawa for his decor blog, Nubaldo. I love how the light and shadow interplay in this photo. Looking at the ground, you can see the dark, shadowed ground forms a rough triangle that comes together right at the corner of the house, forming a clever geometry that leads your eyes to that point. The house begins on a vertical third line and the wagon, by intersecting a vertical and horizontal third and the meeting of the corner of the house with the leading lines of the ground is the clear focal point.

I like this photo from Shyntae Demonista for My Fictional Reality. The desaturated colors add to its otherworldly ambience. The subject is on a vertical thirda nd looking into the frame. Her pose is arched and static – a contrast with the walking statue and, it seems, in response to the statue. It’s an arresting photo and with the black water and the blowing out and obscuring the sky and distant background, its focus is stark and powerful.

“A Tale of Christmas Past”

Stores Featured: Yasyn, Reek, INDI, Deetalez, Turducken, Magika, IREN, LAQ, Elikatira, What Next, Woe

Snowman Pose: Turducken

Wall Pose: Synt

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Edloe/127/129/27

One of the things that I think can get lost in discussions of the rules of composition and the technical elements that make one photo more appealing than another is that these “rules” basically come down to instinct. There was no Royal College of Art Composition that declared henceforth all humans will like diagonal lines better than straight lines, groups of odd numbers more than even numbers and compositions that divide into thirds better than ones that divide in half. It’s the other way around. Something in our instincts, our neuro-programming or genetic inheritance chooses for us. That’s why people can legitimately say “I don’t know much about art, but I know what I like,” and people who roll their eyes at that are ignoring that we all know what we like without being told.

I love this photo from Podenga, a Second Life artist I found on Flickr, for a lot of reasons, but the strongest is the joy it evokes. Don’t the two trees in the foreground seem to be dancing with each other in a slower than the human eye can perceive shift and response of shape and growth? This highlights one of the things that distinguish someone who takes pictures from an artist. Podenga spun her camera around, camming in on these trees from up, down and all around and found this angle. In real life, most of us stand in front of what we want to capture in a picture and focus in. But a few of us, get down on our knees, lay on our back and roll around on the ground until we find that magical angle that gives us more than a photograph, that gives us art. In Second Life you don’t have to risk getting damp and muddy to get a good angle, just play with the camera controls.

But just to be contrary, I also love this photo that is taken from the standard point and click angle. The visual emphasis of the parallel tree trunks is echoed with the perfect font choice for the text below, text that almost suggests the idea of roots with the light font weight, the thin strokes like the tendrils seeking food and water in the soil. This is magic, simple, elemental magic, but pure magic. It touches me emotionally, making me recall those many mornings walking through the woods to the bus stop and sensing the life force of the forest in the soft whispers of the trees. We can always recognize the powerful life force of the forest in the summer when all is lush and green, but walking through the pre-dawn forest on a cold winter morning, hearing the snap of rime-covered branches and the soft whoomph of snow dropping in soft pillows on the ground. There’s a life force in that sleeping forest, too. This picture captures that.  You definitely should visit Podenga’s photostream to see the wider array of her work, including fabulous portraits and photo compositions.

Oh, I do so very much love this photo from Amelie Fravoisse for Amie Fashion. I love the angle looking up from under the sled runners. It creates a sense of anticipation. And if you’ve every been sledding, that anticipation is often as fun as the all too brief flying moments of the run down the hill itself. There were so many fabulous places for sledding when I was a kid – the big hill in the horse pasture on my brother’s farm where snow-covered manure held potential for mishap, the Nutcracker that dangerously ended in a run on the ice-covered Red Lake River – a river that drowns so many people the Anishinaabe named it the Thief River or my personal favorite, the snow-covered 112 steps down to the lake on our neighbor’s front lawn where, with skill, you could turn the sled onto the roof of the boathouse and then fly through the air across the ice before landing on the ice and sliding halfway out the small island before coming to a stop. This picture reminds of the things I miss about living where there is a real winter.

I really like this photo from Neuilles Neuman, a new-to-me blogger I found by following favorites. The light is just wonderful and her pose is perfect. Haven’t we all paused for a moment entranced by the dancing motes in a ray of light? In terms of composition, this is beautifully done with the bed and dresser forming a left and bottom frame that balances the negative space of the wall. The ray of light makes a strong diagonal line leading you into the frame and to the subject. Notice how the slightly diagonal shadow reaches across the bed and the edge of the dresser bring the two together. It’s a great photo, but the real power for me, once again, is the human connection of shared experience.

Another photo filled with light is this beautiful one from rara Melody for her home-decor blog, Interior Fashion. I love her use of the shadows from the window frame. She has her subject at the vertical third but also moving in the exact direction of the shadow line, even standing right on it. You can see that just about everything parallels that line, except for her face, turning to look at us. It’s a cozy picture, drawing us in to the scene with strong leading lines and excellent composition

I love this photo from Mars Absent for his store blog. The outspread arms seem almost like wings, especially from this angle which makes the subject seem to float, hovering above the ordinary world, aloft in celestial imagination. The soft blurring suggests an ethereal quality – which is a brilliant counterpoint to the metallic tailoring complete with rivets in the dress.

I like this portrait by Dyna Serenity for her blog, SL Looking Glass. The use of a vignette really adds to the cozy cocoon that you can feel when it’s warmed up enough to snow and the flakes are soft and fluffy. The world seems so quiet, all noise and bustle blanketed by a carpet of snow. Of course, the snowshoes should be on her feet in that kind of fluffy snow, but I love their presence in the photo – they are almost like butterfly wings – for a snowy butterfly.

I try not to highlight the same person in back to back columns, but honestly, would you leave out this amazing photo from Neva Crystall just because she shot another amazing photo last week? This bit of surreallist art just makes me happy. Sure, there’s a hosue with huge billowing gauze curtains that has just enough water on the floor to be interesting and sure, a swan is going to be floating in that inch of water. But of course, isn’t all of that part of the magic of this fabulous photo?

I like this picture from Cora Pomilio for her blog, & We Live This Close. This is a great portrait, offset and looking into the frame as it should be. The styling is excellent and everything comes together and she used a bokeh texture to add interest and dimension. Bokeh is the blurred spots of light in the out-of-focus areas of a photo. You see it with depth-of-field photos. Her use here suggests an out-of-focus foreground  and you can see that she kept it to one side – not all over, which is what makes it work as foreground.

LouLou Teichmann’s fabulous photo for La Mia Bauhaus is a wonderful example of how wonderfully kinetic a Second Life photo can be. She’s obviously caught in a whirlwind as the wind blows the ribbons on her dress and her umbrella in opposite directions. It’s Second Life, wind can do that. I love the tension of her pose and the suggestion that the wind has already pulled her off the edge – so let’s hope that umbrella works.

I like this photo from Kenneth Uxlay for Capital H.I.M. enough to highlight it in spite of the autoplay music on his blog. Notice the strong diagonal lines moving across the bottom of the picture with the shadows and the edge of the pond and how the edges of the pond form two leading lines that take your eye right to the subject. He’s just barely off-center and is moving in the direction where there’s a little more room to go but looking in the other direction. It works.

This photo from Pinkcoconut Debevec for her blog Fuckdemential made me remember that chill to bones cold you feel when you are standing still on one of those cold winter days. Her title was called Skin Like Fire and made me think she has been out in the cold, perhaps waiting for a school bus, and felt that burning cold that burns the outer layer of your skin. I like how she situated her three-quarter shot so close to her body shot – turned to it,  huddling for warmth.

And now, let me indulge myself with some recent works from non-blogging photographers I have highlighted in earlier columns. I am in love with this work of art from Harbor Galaxy. The colors are saturated and rich. The use of blue-yellow and red-green complementary colors is smart. It feels like a painting and I can see it gracing a gallery in both First and Second lives.

I still love the quirky immediacy of Quika B.’s slice of life photos and think this one is just brilliant. It’s another picture of something we see all the time, but without seeing it for its beauty and storytelling. Is that car sanctuary or danger? We don’t know, but we do know that the lights of a parked car on a dark night can give us comfort or make us shiver.

Del May’s photos continue to surprise and astonish. Seriously, how does she come up with all these brilliant ideas? I imagine her mind as a vast warren full of doors that open into worlds  far more alluring, dangerous, chaotic, surreal, wild  and exciting than anything down the Rabbit Hole.

note:( Respza Loc has a new landmark)

Crackberry

Stellar

Clutter

Park Place Home Decor

RezIpsa Loc (new landmark)

Sweet Antidote

Tranquility Way Station

beach street

Zoe’s Garden

Mystic Canvass

DesSion

Rue

Piddler’s Perch

Dragon Magick Wares

Snowpaws

Kukuvaya

Dreamscapes

Welcome to SLsecret, week 171.

Sorry for the delay. Kess is not available at the moment. So if you need a secret removed contact me in world or plurk or email me lourdes.denimore AT gmail DOT com.

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The great fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes once said “The work is its own reward.” Truer words were never spoken – if you’re a blogger or photographer in Second Life. We have to take hold of those moments of quiet satisfaction when our photos turn out the way we envision them or when we publish a blog post that we are particularly proud of. That is our reward, doing something we love and doing it well. There are other rewards, like, faves and comments, but they are rare. For someone who gets so excited and pleased by comments as I do, I have to confess to being terrible about giving them myself. I have to change this small hypocrisy and resolve to comment more often – because I know how very discouraging it is to work for several hours and publish something and get no response. When I read other bloggers voicing their own frustration at lack of recognition and hear them wondering if they make a difference and even considering quitting, I have to acknowledge my part in never telling them how much they make a difference or me. So my resolution is that from now one I will try to make two comments a day. That’s not much time at all. I can do something that small and easy. (So long as I can read the CAPCHA!) Perhaps you have favorite photographers and bloggers, too, whose work you admire and you have not said so. Is it worth a minute or so of your time to tell them so and remind them that their work is valued? Would you miss them if they quit, discouraged by lack of vocal support and encouragement? If so, why not take a little time and tell them so?

Belinda Baroque is certainly a photographer that deserves pages of comments admiring her work. She’s a bold and imaginative photographer whose creations range from bright, bold photos in Gaugin-bright colors such as this one to somber, monochromatic studies. I love the variety in her work, but even more the bold way she brings her subjects into focus. Take this photo, she uses texture layers to add dimension and color to the photo, but also to make lots of the detail leaving just three exposed clusters – the subject, the foliage and the lion and tree in the background. An equally bold and compelling work is hand to hand with nature and frankly, I could not really decide which I liked best, so I flipped a coin. You should click through to see it as well.

Belinda Baroque’s work seems do go straight from the brightly colored to the monochromatic black and white as in this one, little girl lost in halloween. There is so much to love about this picture, but the most compelling is her use of depth of field, going the opposite of the norm and having the background in perfect, sharply focused detail, while the details of the little girl are lost and shadow and slight blurring in the foregroun. It contributes to the sense of menace and fear that is so much at the heart of what appears, at first glance, an innocent childhood game, but on closer examination seems full of portent from the ramshackle deck, the spooky fence, the “we’re not on your side” trees with the mysterious watcher in the trees. It could be the relatively innocent menace of Halloween fright and a scary game of hide and seek. This is truly great artistic storytelling, open to many possibilities and engaging our wits in trying to read the future in these black and white shadows.

This photo from Zoe Demar for her blog Z…complete is arresting. It’s they eyes, so magnetic and powerful they stop you in mid-page down and shake you awake and make you look. This is a power photo – and so it works to center the subject and have her look out of the frame, ready to challenge the viewer with her glance. She not arrogant or angry, just sure, certain and implacable.

I am often captured by Iris Campese’s brilliant use of bold, vivacious colors, but this time she went for a subdued palette and showed that she can work color magic in any spectrum. As always, she dresses her set to highlight her outfit and to echo the colors in her outfit. Her choices of background and props are perfect with her outfit colors and show a great eye for color and for detail. I was surprised by the relatively subdued (for her) palette, but think it’s absolutely wonderful.

I like this photo from Isabeal Jupiter for Another World. It tells a story with her pose showing her hesitating, her head cocked, listening, her eyes wide, startled. She writes about catching something in the corner of her eye and not being able to see it. She perfectly executed that wary, expectant sensation with this photo. The blurred background reinforces that idea of something out there, unseen, lost in the shadows. Really a brilliant storytelling photo.

This photo from Neva Crystall at False Mirrors is a perfect holiday snapshot. I love her expression, the glance over her shoulder sharing a secret smile with us. The styling is gorgeous, complementing the black and white dress with splashes of red. The set dressing is amazing and the whole thing together creates a wonderful story for us to enjoy.

Here you see one of the qualities that puts Grazia Horwitz on my Top Ten list of Second Life fashion bloggers. As always, her photo is flawless and beautifully composed. With someone with her experience and skill, that’s simply a given, but this photo has a special element of genius in her surprising and fun combination of elements to make something new. It’s the creativity to mix and match and style in new and exciting ways that make her a leading blogger on everyone’s short list. It got me searching out a blog entry from Tom & Lorenzo that I read recently that showed the editorial shots for a Tatler Russia shoot and the runway styling of the designers themselves. What was remarkable was how transformative and beautiful the styling by the magazine team was. That’s what Grazia does in her blog.

This photo from Danixinha Babii for Oneomaníacos do Sl is a simple little shot that works so well to highlight the shoes while making the normally dull shoe shot interesting by hooking it onto a story. It’s a simple story of travel and adventure, but it works to elevate an ordinary shot into something special.

I like this shot from Samie Flux for Why not Samie? It’s a relatively standard street fashion photo but the strong diagonal leading lines of the sidewalk that parallels her shadow makes it special and giving it so many possibilities. It makes me think of fun afternoons windowshopping, wandering the streets and backing in the joy of a free afternoon.