The list is pretty extensive and there’s no real TP point. On the website they list all the stores and a teleport point to that store (and it’s updated as soon as the organizers get the SLURLs from the designers.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE WEBSITE AND GET DIRECT TP TO DESIGNERS

CLICK HERE TO JUST GO TO THE WASH AND WANDER

Here’s a list of designers (I copied directly from The Wash’s blog):

HOME

Hell Bop Clothing
Battle Fairy
WeeOnes
Pink Label
DCD
Maloney&Hudson
The Joker’s Jinx
Liderc
SD Wears
Enticing Designs
FIN
Unique Clothing
Transylvanian Trading Post
Maloney&Hudson

AWAY TEAM

Heartsick
Dark Water Designs
[: B!ASTA :]
Ear Candy
Static Clothing Co.
#Before Sleep# Clothing + Furniture
The Little Bat
Piddler’s Perch
.::Dame::.
Style by Kira
Hooligan Streetwear
[[A.R.C.+F.N.]]
Graffitiwear
RVi Design
Sacred Flame Flower Boutique
BagLady Design
Gem Elegance
Pretty Kitties
FAR Concepts
AAA Poses
{Ms. B. Designs}
.:Evilkyoot:. Designs
MIMT&MIM
Lushish Catz
urban Chic Couture
Weekend Salvage
AKA Ass Kicking Angels
Stylas
JIL’S Design
Somnia
Schwarz
Luckenbach, Texas
DARK creations
The Kandi Store-Jewelry
Hasi`s
B&T Shoes & Boots
B&T Atelier
Miao
Bliensen + MaiTai
Zoe’s Garden
[Sleeping Koala]
::Eclectic Firefly::
.::La Flat::. Modern Homes and Furnishings
Lois Allen Designs
.:Evilkyoot:. Designs
sn@tch
Tranquility Way Station
Peeps Fashion
Snowpaws
Xtreme Designs
Hey
Alexohol
Baby Monkey Shoes
*~*HopScotch*~*
CUBE
Timeless Textures
EDS  Erotique Designs
Total Eclipse Clothing Co.
Artic Storm
.: Zanzibar creationZ :.
Needful Things
The Jagged Blade
Cilian’gel Boutique
amanda’s fashion
zibber’s designs
Adoness
Duh!
Clutter
Amour fashion
Phoebe ~Piercings & more~
*N@N@*
.:: Mind Games ::.
RnB Designs Furniture
U-Neek
DemotiK
Beatnik
Allusions
Eclectic Diversity
Ollies Follies
Elemental Earth Designs
Bizarre Hair
Magnifique
+ eX + ezura Xue
<Lash-Ware>
Jeannie’s Jewels
Unforgettable Temptations
Kirei
Hey
NVious
STAKEY
-=FORSAKEN=-
The Strawberry Box
::Option:: Designs
Soul Effects
Spangles Jewelry Box
Sher’s Cottage Gardens
Cookie
Tempting Sinsations
vMotional
Aberrant
Flit ink

Back to Black is still open. If you haven’t had a chance to take a look at the fab items available, now is a good time to go. It should be lag free and a more pleasant shopping experience. Today I’m wearing the bodysuit from CIA Designs. CIA is a new store to me and look forward to seeing more of their work. I’m also wearing Artilleri’s Make a Wish Necklace available in silver and gold tone. Its a very cute jewerly piece, and understated. So much jewelry is SL is big and bold, its nice to see a causal piece that can go with jeans or a nice dress. Lastly, I’m wearing Purrfect 10′s Wild Roses shoes. When they were released a few weeks ago I made a note to grab them. I was so happy to see them at Back to Black. The thing I love the most about these shoes is the color matching. The creator has gone above and beyond and compiled a very extensive list of skins and skin tones and provides you with the code to copy and paste into the chat window. Voila your shoes are skin matched in less than 5 seconds.

On a different note, on March 1, 2012 March Mesh Madness starts!! Hosted on FATEisland

Credits:
Hair: Elikatira
Skin: Al Vulo
Bodysuit: CIA Designs
Necklace: Artilleri
Shoes: Purrfect10

Poses: Frooti

I thought I might take a moment to suggest a few tutorials for people looking to improve their picture quality. Sometimes when I see a picture that is well-styled, well-composed and shows imagination and an artistic vision that is marred by low resolution and pixelation, it’s clear that some people with real skills don’t have the technical information they need to translate their good ideas into good pictures. There are many excellent tutorials than can help. If you know of tutorials in other languages, I would love you to add them in comments.

• Average at Best Tutorials - Juliette Bergan
• MADImage Tips & Tricks - Maddox Dupont
• Vint Falken’s Tutorials = Vint Falken
• Harlow Heslop’s Tips & Tricks - Harlow Heslop
• Luna Jubilee’s Blog and Photography Tutorials – Luna Jubilee
• Cropping is the Fashion Blogger’s Best Friend for Linden Labs Fashion Expert Forum – Cajsa Lilliehook
• Tutorials & PSAs – Cajsa Lilliehook
• Strawberry Singh’s Photo & Blog Tutorials - Strawberry Singh
• Gogo’s Tutorial – lower right on the blogroll
• YouTube SL Photography Video Tutorials - Various
• YouTube SL PhotoShop Video Tutorials - Various

I found BadOn Rain by following other people’s favorites and am so glad I did. his work is imaginative and well-executed. Looking at his relatively small photostream, I get the impression that he makes a concerted effort to reveal his subjects’ character through the photos. From this live-action shot to romantic portraits to editorial fashion, he has it all in just two pages of pictures. That gives me the impression of someone who listens to his subjects to understand them and find a way to express their personality through art.

I love the wit in this photo. It’s fun and cheeky, especially with his comment in the description, “Hey, man, rebake please.” It made me smile. In terms of composition, she is on a vertical third and looking toward him. That focus is emphasized by the lights and the snaking electrical cords. The perspective is enhanced with depth of field. It’s beautifully composed so that our eyes are drawn exactly where he wants them. I love everything about it.

I like this photo from Christina Mistwalker for BeStyle Magazine. There’s kinetic energy in her pose that has her facing into the frame but looking out along the path that gives a strong diagonal line. So does the fence, though the background is very impressionistic, blown out by the bright sunlight (and glow).

This photo from Chirzaka Vlodovic for Modavia Fashion Blog is stunning. The limited color palette makes the pop of pink in the feather and on her lips stand out. The use of the spotlight as it falls off into negative space is fantastic. I love the inky black that has such a presence, balancing the photo and giving it weight.

I am thrilled that Kyrie Source is blogging again after her hiatus because I have missed her strong editorial vision. I never had to wonder who took her pictures as they are instantly recognizable with her bold high-fashion styling and her minimalist editorial photos. In this one, she crops close and the white space gets a life of its own with the bold, sharp lines of her silhouette.

This photo from Sixx Yangtz for RyXX makes fabulous use of the black background, the subject melting into the shadows with the bright focal points of his white gloves and cravat and the bold diagonal line of his sword. Not only does the dark light give it a moody feeling, it arrests your attention and makes you work to see it all. This makwa it more memorable than if it has been shot in full light.

I like this picture from Blackkk Corbeau for Fly Boy’s Swag. It’s just such a bold pose, simple, strong and eye-catching. I love the conceit of shooting magazine colors and his color discipline. It just all works so well together. If you’re browsing on your lunch break, be sure you volume is turned down because the music autoplays.

I like this photo from Nuria Niven for Across the 2nd Universe. I like that she shot from behind with the subject looking at the chateau. I like how the subject is off-center while the road is not, its edges forming leading lines to the chateau and creating a double focus, the subject and the chateau.

I love the use of repetition in this photo by Tsugu Nirvana for Pesca, not just with the same pose, same outfit, different colors, but with the semi-transparent background. I also love the added element of handwriting on the side. It seems all of a piece with the vintage style lace on the blouse. It just beautifully brings the different elements together and makes what could so easily be just another color-variation composite intriguing.

Last, but far from least, I love Lila Quander’s picture for Demented Diva and Suriko Leimes photo for The Bunneh Files. It’s fun to see how they both tackle the same set up, comparing the angle they chose, how they set windlight, their use of lens flare and their editing in photoshop. They take very different approaches and the pictures are definitely recognizably within each person’s style. Still, both pictures are intriguing, tell a story and get us to stop and look and wonder – which makes both a winner in my book.

Welcome to SLsecrets, week 181

1) 2)3)4)5)6)7)8 )9)

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“When love is not madness, it is not love.”
~Pedro Calderon de la Barca

…..this is why that parcel full warning means very little…………

Thank you for taking part in our wonderful hunt! The following amazing creators are feeling the LOVE!! Please be on the look out for the object below it will be set for 45Ls!

C & D Designs / [Circa]

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Aurora%20Vale/171/91/38

Clutter

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wind%20River%20Territory/71/42/22

Tranquility Way Station

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Tranquility%20Station/64/72/26

Bang Bang

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Mephit/151/54/2402

Crackberry

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Wind%20River%20Territory/45/172/24

Tupelo Honey Home Decor

Photo Coming Soon <3 Sorry for the delay!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Artstonia/64/57/45

Michigan’s Shack

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hawk%20Land/128/192/24

The Strawberry Box

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Michigan%20Bay/77/128/25

Weather! or not?

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Hobbs%20End/10/198/38

Vengeance Media

This set is wearable DJ boards includes the heart above, backpack and boards.

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Vengeance/218/80/22

Weekend Salvage

http://slurl.com/secondlife/South%20Of%20Forever/154/134/27

Cleo Designs

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Oamaru%20Bay/21/203/21

leBloom

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Belle%20Epoque/198/77/24

Art Dummy

http://slurl.com/secondlife/LISP/169/238/510

Zinnias

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Michigan%20Bay/117/158/25

! bang poses

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Lo%20Lo/34/109/23

Bliss Garden Center

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Bliss%20Gardens%20Park/52/44/233

Aphrodite

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Gigli%20Neit/161/157/694

FD Decor

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Low%20Prim%20Decor/128/153/39

Katy’s Kreations

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Watershade/112/233/33

Royal Living Magazine

http://slurl.com/secondlife/WaLKinG%20iNDReaMs/110/172/1001

Scarlett Creative

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Vanilla%20Twist/246/129/21

Storaxtree

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Highland%20Meadow%201/62/148/21

Toki-doki – Ana Sweater – 4 colors available / 180L per color

Paperdoll - Pandora Shirt – 11 colors available /105L per color

ploom – Not out at this time

Whippet & Buck – Halcyon Cropped Bustier – 4 colors available – 75 L per color / 200L for the fatpack

Bang ! – Give Peas a Chance prop – 50L

Cheap Makeup – Glitter Brows / 50L for the 4 colors

Willow – Peace Shades – 3 colors / 75L per color

Little boxes -Peace Nest – 185L

Intrigue Co – Origami earrings / 100L

DCNY – Not out at this time

Guest designer – Blah – Peace Sporty Ensemble / Top: 125L per color * Panties : 100L per color

EXCEPT TODAY

MARKETPLACE IS DOWN. Why is marketplace down today? EPIC FAILURE LINDEN LAB!

What’s is the motivation to take down marketplace for maintenance on VALENTINE’S DAY????

We both chose to go with formals from stores that we also purchased our wedding garb. Sal wore the Modern Formal Tux from Lapointe & Bastchild. I chose the Chloe dress from Son!a.

Heading out to prom.

Getting Lucky after prom :p

Thats my final lingerie post for the Lingerie Challenge and my last ass pic for a while. I hope everyone has a fabulous Valentine’s Day. Hoping you all “get lucky” whether with yourself or someone special. Hehe

Credits

Sal:
Pic 1:
Tux: Lapointe and Bastchild
Skin: Belleza
Pic 2:
Boxer briefs: Zaara

Lourdes:
Pic 1:
Skin: Al Vulo
Make-up: R.icielli
Hair: Elikatira
Dress: Son!a

Pic 2:
Hair: Elikatira
Lingerie: Reasonable Desires

Poses: Poseur and oOo Studio, respectively

]]> http://shoppingcartdisco.com/fashion/sold-in-sl-valentines-and-pixel-prom/feed/ 0 http://shoppingcartdisco.com/fashion/sold-in-sl-valentines-and-pixel-prom/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scdinsl/~3/0pwH1I2DITQ/ http://shoppingcartdisco.com/what-i-like-2/what-i-like-60/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 20:14:06 +0000 Cajsa Lilliehook http://shoppingcartdisco.com/?p=23771

One of the wonderful truths about the Second Life community is that there is a strong element of mutual support and education. Whether it’s hanging out at Help Islands or giving advice in tutorials, comments or on forums, Second Life residents have a vast reservoir of help in improving their skills and experience. There are many great tutorials that can help people improve the quality of their photos, with help in figuring out how to configure the settings, help in working with windlight or with post-processing in PhotoShop. Again and again, Second Life residents are reaching out with a helping hand to assist each other. I thought I would begin this week’s column highlighting an incredible tutorial from Graphic Dix that was published at Modavia Fashion Marketing and picked up by New World Notes as well.

This is a tutorial for producing photos direct from Second Life with reflections already in place. This is not about using PhotoShop to compensate for what Second Life can’t do, but about using the tools of Second Life to expand our understanding of what Second Life can do. It’s wonderful when people with great skills are willing to share their techniques so other people can learn to improve their work. Frankly, when I look at the instructions, I think I am too lazy, but perhaps one day…

The artist I would like to feature this week is Skip Staheli whose work features wonderfully detailed photos of himself and other people. His photos reveal a romantic’s vision of life, full of heroic struggle, enduring love and otherworldly beauty. This most recent picture is the idealized wild hero. I love that he places his hero in a contextless setting. His clothing could be from another time, but also in our own time. Time, place, country are absent, replaced by a nebulous fog and a few splashes of paint that echo the wildness of his hair. By taking him out of time, he makes him a sort of EveryMan of the hero variety.

Here is another sublimely romantic photo from Skip Staheli, whose photostream is full of picture after picture of beautifully worked photos like this. He does amazing work adding textiles, hair details and other elements, such as the dragonflies in this photo, to present a fully realized vision.

I love this picture from Beatrice Serendipity for Simply Bea. I like that she only gives us an impression of the setting with large, out of focus flowers in front and the fence and the blown-out sky in the back. The angle makes for a more interesting photo and the composition is well-done with the subject off-center and looking into the frame.

I love this picture from Agustin Wonder for his blog, The City Gent. It’s cropped close, but has a very kinetic feeling thanks to the angle of his jaw and the lean to the right. This doesn’t feel like a posed studio shot, but a close-up caught on the fly. That’s reinforced by the reflections off his sunglasses and the very casual, easy pose for this close-up.

I enjoy the wit in this photo from Clix Renfrew for Creative Imagery Photography. I adore the slight tribute to Minnie the Mouse with that hat, but the outfit is very chic and not the least bit a Minnie costume. In keeping with the nostalgia of the hat, she gives the picture a noir feeling, complete with a huge shadow reminiscent of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. She just enough noise to make us think of an old film. It’s just delightful and fun on every level; it’s camp, not caricature and chic, not costume.

This picture from Mui Mukerji for her self-titled blog is simply stunning. It’s very minimalist, but rich in textural detail that is only enhanced by being black and white. While the subject’s body is turned out of the frame, her head and shoulders are twisting toward the frame and gives the possibility of turning. She is also centered on a vertical third. There’s a beautiful use of negative space in this picture with it interrupted by that outstretched arm.

This picture from Syra Hyun has a strong surreal quality. Of course, some of it comes from the startling design of the dress, but photographed otherwise, it could simply be an avant garde dress. Finding that platform with those objects and shooting from that angle, she give it a surrealist, painterly feeling that elevates it from editorial fashion photography to art.

And lastly, Dita Actor for One Part Ourfish produced this amazing homage to a music video by Gotye. She explains her process in her blog post and has a detail shot that are worth seeing. I love her creativity.

Feb 13, 2012 (that’s tonight) from 4-6pm SLT! Come meet people and trade what items you have for something you want.

TELEPORT TO SWAP MEET

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Shopping Cart Disco is now doing roundups for special events like Stumblebum , Disco Deals, and the Friday Flyer with some of the best designers in Second Life.

Shopping Cart Disco advertising is now shared with the SLGorean Community Blog Feed – which syndicates Gorean Second Life!

The SCD network also proudly supports special events and charitable events within Second Life. If you would like us to sponsor your event by offering free advertising please contact Metavirtual Portal inworld or using the contact form here.

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Welcome to SLsecrets, week 180

1) 

2)  Removed for Rule Breaking -

3)  

4) 

5) 

6)  

7) 

8) 

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SLsecret is published every Sunday at Shopping Cart Disco.

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Fist stop is Status and the featured pose set is BabyDoll. Naturally you can purchase these in a single pack but at the price Status puts their poses you might as well grab the whole pack of poses!

Perfect for showing off those legs in a short cute skirt!

Next up is Sn@tch. I chose to feature the gloves because they are a great piece to add to any outfit. These are well textured and come with beaded cuffs! Plus it’s one big pack at a great price. And the prims are texture change so you don’t have 100 prims in your inventory on top of the pack of gloves. I wish more designers would employ texture change. When done correctly (script wise) it can actually not be a big impact on performance.

Next up is Crackberry!! First of all I love the name of the store. I used to call my Blackberry Crackberry all the time so Jemima’s store name totally rolls off my tongue and tickles me every time I say it! This Little Tin Tub is a cute little addition to your home! It has a texture change pillow and towel to match every decor and is only 8 prims!

Last, but not least is Somnia. I featured the Voodoo Love Necklace because it’s a cute little heart necklace that you can gift to your Valentine. I love the little doll holding a tiny heart. I love little tiny things like this.  Fear not, the item is copy/mod/notrans but I know Somnia has vendors that can deliver the item as a gift!

If I missed any shops it’s mostly because my client wasn’t rendering properly today. This  machine is built for CAD not gaming.

Don’t forget! The LOVE GATCHA is going on at Amira in the same area as these shops! So not only can you get items from these great designers but there’s tons of Gatcha machines from various designers around the grid at less than 45L a pull!!!

TP TO SHOPS@ AMIRA

“From pain comes beauty”

So Kess and I were bored. And I was like “We should do an event.” And she said “Ok but you have to do it.” And I was like “Ok but I wanna do GACHA.”  And she said “Ok but you have to do it.” And I said “And nothing can be more than 45L a pull because expensive gacha pisses me off.” And she said “Ok but you have to do it.”

So LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY….OPENING 2.8.12 WHICH IS NOW SO GO GO GO…..and I BRING YOU………

THE LOVE GACHA

It’s a collection of some of my favorite creators (and ME!) bringing you Gacha items themed around what we love. Or maybe around what you. Anyway…….THE ROUND UP.

PS THIS IS A LOT OF PICS AND I NEVER DID A ROUND UP SO……….don’t yell at me!

Blueblood has a tank and panty set and tights. Cute tights.

Balderdash has pretty flowers for your hair. If You’re Going….to SAN FRANCISCO…..

A.S.S. brings you a pretty pretty bracelet, I got the pearl and amethyst from Bouncer Criss bcse he got all girl colors! I gotta go back and pull more and get a guy colors to give him one back.

Dark Mouse has a BEAUTIFUL jewelry gacha called charming charms. At 25L a pull, you gotta love it. I love charms.

22769 brings a gorgeous shirt and the rare is a shirt and jumper combo. Do want.

Crackberry brings 4 home furnishing items I love that little love seat!

These are stunning for your home. The planters are just killer, I love them. Clutter may be my favorite new florist.

Schadenfreude brings us the book of Love. NOW YOU KNOW WHO WROTE IT!

Miao brings us jewel toned Lingerie with the sexy corset or bra and panties, depending on how sexy you plan on being.

From STATUS two things I love – Bowling , the ball is texture change from traditional marbles to pink glitter to YES AN EYEBALL and some mesh ice skates just for run in calico and polka dots.

I should’ve stood on the pose stand. I SUCK As an Event Blogger. GEEZ has poses.

lol. I AM SORRY GRAZIA PLEASE DON’T KEEEEEL ME.

Aura Bubble dress! Pink Zebra and Cheetah …how I love them.

Mesh Boots are perfect for throat kicking anyone who doesn’t reciprocate your love.

Sn@tch baseball type jerseys with cute phrases and one says PLURKER!!!

AND the Somnia coordinating Yoga Pants! CUTE! But I dunno about the ones that say wet, maybe there are too many diapers in my life…….

Awesome everyone!!

You can TP directly to the LOVE GACHA and I hope you guys enjoy the festival as much as I enjoyed slapping it together. Thank you so much to all of the creators who worked with me. I’m NOT an event organizer (nor an event blogger) but this has been stupidly fun to do and I’m so excited by everything you guys created. I think everyone is going to love it.

Love
So many people use your name in vain
Love
Those have faith in you sometimes go astray
Love
Through all the ups and downs the joy and hurt
Love
For better or worse I still will choose you first

Many days I’ve longed for you
Wanting you
Hoping for the chance to get to know you
Longing for your kiss
For your touch, your feel, your essence
Many nights I’ve cried from the things you do
Felt like I could die from the thought of losing you
I know that you’re real
With no doubts and no fears
And no questions

Love
So many people use your name in vain
Love
Those have faith in you sometimes go astray
Love
Through all the ups and downs the joy and hurt
Love
For better or worse I still will choose you first

At first you didn’t mean that much to me
But now I know that you’re all I need
The world looks so brand new to me
Now that I found love
Everyday I live for you
And everything that I do
I do it for you
What I say is how I feel so believe it’s true
You got to know I’m true

Pose Prop: Sway’s

Yesterday’s secret brings up a few issues that I fret about when working on my column. The first is the obvious fact that it’s impossible to see all the work produced by people in Second Life. There’s a minimum of three photo repositories with Flickr, KoinUp and Deviant Art. There are unknown hundreds of blogs and over a dozen feeds. Of course, I miss great photos. I bet there are a few dozen great pictures for every one I happen to highlight. The second issue is simply that taste is subjective. If someone else were writing this column, they would choose different pictures. I try to step back and recognize the skill that is evident in photos outside my personal comfort zone and I can find a reason to like the photo. However, there are types of photos I don’t like and no amount of objective recognition of technique will overcome that.

The more important issue is the fear that some people are discouraged by this blog, rather than motivated and inspired. I can understand feeling discouraged. Sometimes I see some piece of artwork and I know that no matter how much I try, I can never be that good. Sometimes the imagination and creativity of other people makes me envious, recognizing that my creativity runs in other directions and that my own work is so much more prosaic. However, if we were all Picasso, he wouldn’t be special, would he? I have to remind myself that I take pictures and blog because doing it gives me pleasure – not to seek external validation. Every week there are more good pictures than I can feature. Dozens of good and great pictures don’t get added for many reasons, please don’t let this column discourage you from enjoying your art and taking pride in your pictures.

I love the work of Paola Mills. Funnily enough, I have admired her work since long before I started to do this column so I somehow got it in my head that I had already featured her work. She does lovely chiaroscuro pictures such as this one with its velvety blackness casting her body into bold relief where the light shines brightly. This pose and the angle of the shot gives us strong diagonal lines that frame her face. It’s beautifully done. I like the half-open eyes that are so much more suggestive of another presence outside the frame than closed or fully open eyes might be.

Paola Mills has a creative way of looking at the world and has many photos that make you think and wonder what the story behind the photo may be. This one is called The Way of the Heart. It’s clearly THAT WAY! I love the pointing finger in the foreground, the layering over the sky and water. With the perspective and the close-in shot, she seems almost like a giant goddess pointing the way.

Introspection is another fabulous photo. While very different from the others I highlight, it still exemplifies common elements of all her work – the use of different angles to give a fresh and insightful perspective, exploring the human body as a way to see into the mind and heart. Curiosity and creativity are always a part of her work. So definitely click on through to her photostream and get swimming.

I love this picture from Evion Ember for Another Damn SL Blog. I remember reading a comment from someone criticizing a blog photo that said bloggers should never photograph clothes in front of a background that is the same color and thinking how misguided that advice was. I agree that you need to take care so that the colors work together and not against each other, but shooting red on red or black on black can be fabulous. Perhaps learning hardanger as a kid makes it easy for my to understand how color on color can be exciting and beautiful. It sure is in this photo. Of course, that come-hither-or-else look in her eyes doesn’t hurt either.

I like this photo from Sid Rufus for her self-titled blog. I love the wash of light coming in from the left and the natural blurring it creates on the subject’s left side. I like the pose and the tension it creates with her walking out of the frame but turning in as she does. It does seem to capture that moment when you are walking outside, the air fresh and cool except for the heat of the sun and so you stop, and close your eyes and turn your face toward the sun and let the heat soak into your bones. That’s what this photo captures, the magical healing power of turning into the sun and letting it embrace you with its heat.

In this photo from Aeon Perian for Modavia Fashion Marketing Blog, you can again see how even though the subject is moving out of the frame, that turn toward the frame with the upper body makes the picture work beautifully and gives a sense of movement arrested for a moment. This pose is so very red carpet that its perfect for the high fashion look. I love the background he choose that suggests a step and repeat. He also really captured my attention with the placement of the avatar to suggest casting two shadows, though looking closely you will see the second shadow is not him, but that suggestion is a bit of sly wit that made me smile and really enjoy this picture.

This photo from Nana Minuet is pure and simply beautiful. Who can resist such a unabashedly romantic picture as this complete with flowers in her hair and even a dove flying up into the sky? She titled her post Waiting for Spring. If she’s serenading spring into the world, I hope she’s playing a fast song.

I like this photo from Endija Sella for her Flickr microblog Weirdster. Shot from above, the subject appears so vulnerable, yet still defiant. Looking right into the lens, so to speak, her arms crossed in that mix of defensiveness and courage we are all familiar with. I love the emotional power of this photo.

This picture from Bronson Twine for McGreavy Place is a perfect example of photos outside my comfort zone that I still like because they are so well done they overcome my natural inclination to skip on past them. The subject is off-center and looking up toward us, since the angle is from slightly above. There are strong diagonal lines to get our neural receptors all excited and paying attention. It tell a story, a very gruesome story. The image is powerful and creates a strong visceral reaction – which is the point.

I like this photo from Amie Optera for her blog Amie’s Way. I assume the mast and riggings from a sailboat or ship is casting the shadows. It has such a tranquil, contemplative mood. I like the story it suggests of a quiet swim as the sun rises and wrapping a towel around for warmth as you walk out of the water. Having grown up on a lake and enjoyed many pre-dawn swims, I can promise you, it’s nippy in the morning. Refreshing and lovely, but the minute you get out of the water, that breeze feels so chilly, even the gentle breeze that lifts just a few strands of her hair. Even if this photo didn’t remind me of where i grew up, though, it would still create an emotional response with its quiet and gentle mood.

Pictures don’t always have to be pleasant to be powerful. This one from Elysium Elide on the Festival of Sin’s event blog is a disturbing capture of a moment of wrath – and murder. Her technique of layering a copy of the picture over itself intensifies the color and works so perfectly for capturing this intense moment. I love how the angle of the counter leads your eye right to the couple and the fateful blow with the knife.

This photo from Tyra Eiren for El diablo viste Second Life caught my eye because the angle and the crop makes it so dynamic. There is something wild and free about this photo – a bit of devil may care bravado. Her body’s angle gives us this strong diagonal across the frame that catches our attention. The rich saturated colors, probably from a similar technique to Ely’s and the kinetic movement of the hair she chose all come together in an exciting snap.

I like this snap from Renee Parkes for Dream World. It has the look of one of those street fashion snapshots taken by fashion bloggers and magazine columnists that capture fashion in the wild, so to speak.

I like this photo from Veenya Venter for V for Veenya. As a picture to highlight shoes, it works having them be so boldly in the foreground and to use depth of field to take the rest of the picture out of focus. The strong diagonal works to lead us to the subject’s face which is still visible and while out of focus, clear enough to see her expression. I love the angle of the shot and the close crop on the boot.

Before posting this column, I just wanted to encourage all of you who enjoy taking pictures to remember that the real reward is the fun and the personal pleasure you get from doing something you enjoy. The reward of coming up with an idea for the photo, making it come together and having it work is what keeps me shooting and blogging. Don’t worry if your photoshop skills are not advanced. Most of these photos are not heavily photoshopped and you don’t need photoshop to take good photos. Just keep taking pictures and enjoy the act of doing something you like doing.

Monday, February 6th!

Welcome to the very last edition of Moody Mondays. It’s been a fun ride, and we will never be able to thank you enough for your support!

We know how important good sale events are to consumers, and we’d like to let you know about Secret Wednesday. Many of your favorite Moody Mondays designers are already participating, and others will be in the near future.

You can copy and paste the following line into local chat and click the link for more information.

secondlife:///app/group/746c24f4-39a8-690f-6b90-9866e8720a11/about

For the last time, the designers on this list have a new or exclusive edition item out for just L$55.

Addiction Jewelry

Stellar

Crackberry

Clutter

Park Place Home Decor

Dragon Magick Wares

Snowpaws

Tranquility Way Station

Zoe’s Garden

Piddler’s Perch

Mystic Canvass

RezIpsa Loc

LeBloom

beach street

Welcome to SLsecrets, week 179

1) 

2) 

3)  

4) 

5) 

6)  

Comments are open on this entry.

Comments will be moderated if they break SLsecret posting rules.

SLsecret is published every Sunday at Shopping Cart Disco.

Upload your own secrets for next week here.

Interested in advertising on the SCD Site Network and having your business, blog, or service broadcast to over 2,000 readers a day? Click here!

“We’re on a Boat”

Aura – Briar skin – Cupid and Valentine style – 600L per tone

Illusory – Amour Mini Skirt – All 3 colors : 200L

Truth –Lana Hair – 200 L each color pack – 1000 L for the fatpack

Kyoot – Little Ache Lingerie – 90L each and 325L for all colors

Froot i – I do poses and Protect the Love prop – 100L each

Insufferable Dastard – Lovestruck Eyes 6 colors 99L each / Fatpack 499L

Miao – Dawn Pink Dress – 100L

Cheeky pea –Nira Picnic – 350L

Haut Monde – Not out at this time

BOOM – Cotton Skirt – 75L each

I love Kess she’s my bestie in SL. In an environment where people form, dissolve and rearrange SL families at the drop of the hat, over the past 2 years we’ve formed enough of a bond that I’d be proud to name her sister. Which I did, not that long ago.  Ok I’m rambling now. We found a pose we liked at !Bang and decided to include Sal.

Pose: !Bang

I have been finding it very difficult to complete two columns each week lately – a combination of a minor illness and a bit of burnout. I’ve decided to cut the column to once a week for a while so that I can maintain my enthusiasm. It’s not that the art is less unique or interesting or that the blogs have all of a sudden turned into a litany of sameness, but that it is harder to keep my column feeling fresh.

Adonaira Aabye’s stream is filled with fabulous pictures of such variety that it’s hard to describe. There are charming pictures like this vendor detail of birds enjoying a water fountain. The bit of motion blur on the bird on the left give this picture such verisimilitude that it’s there’s a moment of wondering is it real or is it Second Life? The composition makes this a winner as well with the birds looking at each other, just as you would want human subjects to do in order to create a dynamic tension between them.

In this picture, Adonaira Aabye produces a photo that could not be more different from the first. Using the wireframe view of her subjects, she imagines them as the brilliant firing of connections. It’s an great expression of that human connection that makes Second Life so much more than a game.

B y far the most common, though, are Adonaira Aabye’s wonderful fantasy creations such as this Hero’s Return. From Beauty and the Beast, to Prince of Persia, to the Little Match Girl, she creates wonderfully detailed and beautifully worked illustrations. Now in this one, the subjects aren’t looking at each other since they are in a battle. A detail that I really like is the motion blur that captures the velocity of the mace as he spins it. The picture tells a story as do so many of her works. You really need to wander through her stream. It’s simply amazing.

I like this photo from Falbala Fairey for her blog. I love how the two subjects are posed relative to each other and the umbrella. The one on the right curves toward the one on the left and they nearly form a triangle as they come together. Their shadow emphasizes this and really makes the photo much more distinctive.

I like this photo from Chamoinix Boudreaux for her blog CHAM. I like the story-telling she accomplishes, choosing a pose that perfectly conveys the hesitant, but curious explorer while also showing off the details of the back of that dress. It’s clever and imaginative and though it would benefit from turning on anti-aliasing, I am not going to let one unchecked button invalidate the fresh imagination that is the foundation of this photo.

I like this photo from Yukachoco Magic for her Note*Book blog. I love how she created a horizon with her background. Although they don’t seem to be reacting or looking at each other in this composite, the background works to tie the three together. They are not completely disconnected even without the background, though, since they all seem to be making an effort to get a good luck at us.

I like this picture from Absinthe Montenegro (sinontherocks) for her blog. The angle of the shot adds interest and gives us a strong diagonal line which always makes our brain fire up twice as much since it activates both the vertical and horizontal visual receptors. From this angle, her arms also give us strong leading diagonals that draw our eyes to her face. Add to that the original and whimsical styling and this is a total win.

I love this picture from Abra Zelin on Free*Style. While it breaks the usual rule of having the subject look into the frame and have room to move in front of the subject, it still works. That’s the thing with rules, you can break them and still have a successful photo if you’re lucky or skilled. This works because it succeeds in telling a different story – one that’s sort of flirty. You can imagine a person off to the side with whom she is interacting. Her expression on her face gives us a reason for her to be looking that direction.

This photo from Stephy Maldor also has the subject with less room in front of her than behind her and looking out of the frame and again it works. Again, we can see a reason for it with her swirling skirt and her pose suggesting that she has already run across the frame – reinforced by the upsweeping birds she startled as she ran. The use of depth of field adds to the feeling of urgency. That the direction she is running is more clearly focused also makes it seem a refuge.

Moody Mondays brings you a list of interesting designers offering some of the very best merchandise in SL. All merchants on this list have a new or exclusive edition item out for just L$55 – Monday, Jan. 29th!

NOTE: Mystic Canvass has a new location, be sure to make a landmark!

Stellar

Crackberry

Clutter

Park Place Home Decor

Magnifique

Snowpaws

Tranquility Way Station

Zoe’s Garden

Piddler’s Perch

Mystic Canvass

RezIpsa Loc

Home By JLZ

Vox

Dreamscapes

Welcome to SLsecret, week 178

1) 

2) 

3)  

4) 

5) 

6)  Removed by request

7) 

8 ) 

9)

10)

11)

12)

13) 

Comments are open on this entry.

Comments will be moderated if they break SLsecret posting rules.

SLsecret is published every Sunday at Shopping Cart Disco.

Upload your own secrets for next week here.

Interested in advertising on the SCD Site Network and having your business, blog, or service broadcast to over 2,000 readers a day? Click here!

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

On another note Picnik will be shutting down on April 19, 2012. This is very sad news. Picnik is a tool used by many of the bloggers in the community for photo editing with out needing extensive knowledge in Photoshop techniques. I’ve used it several times in the past when I had to do a quick edit from work where I don’t have access to PS. It has many wonderful features and it will be missed. So for the next few months I am going to try to use Picnik to edit most of my blog pics. For this pic I used collage for the first time. Picnik will truly be missed.

Credits:
Skin: Al Vulo
Hair: Wasabi Pills (mesh)
Dress: Jane (mesh)
Top: Fri.day
Jewelry: U&R Dogs
Tights: Jane
Shoes & Legwarmers: G*field

Poses: Diesel Works

So much of the art I feature each week comes from the many wonderful bloggers of Second Life. I love browsing the different blogs and seeing the new clothes, the adventures and the experiments that people are doing while living their second lives. There are several feeds that aggregate the work of many bloggers into an easy to browse collection, but this column requires that I browse a broader network, so I often browse people’s blogrolls and their Flickr and KoinUp favorites. I like to find new people every week, cognizant that it is easy to get into habits and feature those who are reliably excellent every time. So I encourage you all to click those fave buttons and add to your blogrolls, building that web of connections that bring even the most far flung blogs and artists into sight.

Following favorites is how I came across the work of Thea Maiman on KoinUp and Flickr.  She combines fantasy with surrealism in a unique blend that’s exciting and fresh. Some of her pieces have a pre-Raphaelite romanticism with loving attention lavished on the lights and shadows of beautiful nudes. She uses layers to give texture, context and dimensionality to her work. For example, the dust and scratches added to this work place it in the past, in an earlier, less cynical time. I love the rich, saturated blues. It’s wonderful that she used yellow, the opposite of blue, for the bird, giving the picture an additional spark of energy. The angle is intriguing and yet still positions the subject so she looks into the frame.  The contrast between the light and dark is intense and makes her skin seem to glow as though dusted by moonlight.

And then Thea Maiman produces System Error, something completely different, an amazing surreal duotone whose details and subtleties have been erased by filters, leaving the outlines and suggestions of the sea, the fields and sky, turning them into a wildly imaginative and fantastical landscape. I love this and would love to know how she produced it. I can guess that she used the find edges filter, perhaps, one or two of the art filters – adding the pointillist effect. Perhaps a layer to give the moon those retro dots. But it’s all guesswork.  In terms of composition, you can see the horizon is at two thirds of the way up and the dark rock in the front tops out at one-third. The two avatars are near the right vertical third and their bodies for a triangle. Notice, too, how they and the rock in the foreground are so much darker than the colors in the distance – giving us a sense of depth and distance that could have been lost with the elimination of many of the details we are used to. I like how the umbrella is the same size and angle of the moon – a clever echo of its shape. Truly, there is so much to fascinate me in this picture  - as though by limiting the color and the detail, she exposed more ideas and revealed a deeper truth.

And for something completely different, there is this irresistibly adorable picture from Caelan Hancroft. It’s a good composition, the subject off-center and looking into the frame. The use of depth-of-field to blur the details in the foreground and background give a dash of realism to the fantasy bunny. The tree beautifully frames the photo. The horizon follows the rule of thirds and look at the flowers – three of them, following the rule of odds.

I love the rich colors in Evion Ember’s picture for Another Damn SL Blog. Usually this is achieved by making a copy of the original layer and then changing the blending option to Soft Light. Sometimes that makes the darks too dark, losing details, but you can adjust curves to address that. Elysium Elide has a great tutorial on how to do that. I love that she used complementary colors blue and yellow, orange and green. It’s a bold photo and really captures my attention.

I love this composite from Whimsy Winx for her blog, Virtually Dressed. I like how the two central pics cross each other and are almost, but not quite mirror poses. The arms crossing each other is so clever that it more than compensates for them turning away from each other. The two outer pictures are great crops that give us the details of the dress, showing off the skill of the creators, but also engaging us in completing elements of the picture, drawing us into and making us interact with the photos.

I like this photo from Justyna Magne of Just Magnetized. Again, here is someone using complementary colors to make our neurons happy. In fact, in almost seems as though there is a shade of yellow for every shade of blue. As with most good compositions, the subject and horizon are placed according to the rule of thirds. In addition, the subject looks into the frame and has a place to move forward. Why she is carrying those hug and heavy bullets while wearing high heels and looking so fresh, I don’t know. Perhaps she was on a train derailed by revolutionaries and has joined the revolution despite her bourgeois upbringing – inspired by love for the handsome leader of the cadre or perhaps not. It’s always fun to imagine stories when pictures have little details that ask for explanations.

I love this photo from LouLou Teichmann for La Mia Bauhaus. I love the rich contrasts of light and dark and how it seems framed by black on three sides even though she only added black lines at the top and bottom. While at first glance it seems a duotone, you can see tiny bits of color, the red feather, her lip color and the faintest hint of blush in her cheeks. It has an old almost vaudevillian feeling that I like.

I like this photo from Angels Milena for her self-titled blog. The framing has nice details with its three colors, the inner frame only semi-opaque so the photo shows through. I like how she cropped the picture so we are completing the shoe, the top of her head and her knee. This is a technique that makes our brain work a little harder and that always makes pictures more memorable. The pose gives us great lines and adds to the pictures dynamic energy.

Moody Mondays brings you a list of interesting designers offering some of the very best merchandise in SL. All merchants on this list have a new or exclusive edition item out for just L$55 – Monday, Jan. 22nd!

NOTE: Fucifino has a new location, be sure to make a landmark!

Stellar

Crackberry

fucifino

Clutter

JLZ Designs

STaTUS

Park Place Home Decor

Magnifique

Snowpaws

Tranquility Way Station

Zoe’s Garden

Piddler’s Perch

STaTuS Poses

Welcome to SLsecret, week 177

1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)7) 8 ) 9) 

10)  Removed by request.

11) 12) 13) 14) 15) 16) 17) 18 ) 19)  20) 21) 

 Comments are open on this entry.

Comments will be moderated if they break SLsecret posting rules.

SLsecret is published every Sunday at Shopping Cart Disco.

Upload your own secrets for next week here.

Interested in advertising on the SCD Site Network and having your business, blog, or service broadcast to over 2,000 readers a day? Click here!

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

Albert Einstein

Einstein’s words seem so perfect for Second Life – a world where the limits of our imagination are more critical than the limits of our knowledge. Second Life is rich in imagination and creativity that constantly expands beyond what we think is possible. How lucky we are to have discovered this world – and how lucky that we can share it with others through photography.

I love the art of Megan Prumier, a second life photographer who uses texture layers to create painterly works reminiscent of great landscape artistis such as John Constable or Thomas Cole. This one is particularly fascinating, with its brown and sepia tones looking almost as though it were painted and etched into leather. For all that the color palette is restricted to shades of brown, there is still a richness of contrast with the light tan and the deep chocolate browns.

This landscape of Venezia has beautifully lighting and rich detail. The horizon is placed according to the rule of thirds and we are given a focal point by her placement of the tallest tower on a vertical third. It’s a beautiful, inviting photo of a lovely sim. I like how she framed it with the horizontal black bars above and below – giving it a slight more conventional aspect ratio while maintaing the tight crop that makes it such a great composition.

This photo from Mavi Beck for Get Dirty with Mavi is a new take on the DollCoco Ball-Joint Doll. The many storage cubes filled with dolls heads are wonderful in their variety. The subject has so much intensity in her pose with her chin jutting forward a bit. I love that her complexion is the same as the doll, adding another element of surprise and surreality.

I love this quadtych from Nadja Baxter for Nadja’s Style. It would have been easier to make a two-panel composite and not splitting the photos. Doing it this way, though, makes it more interesting and emphasizes the volume of the skirt, one of its key elements. The panels relate to each other and the subject is turned toward her counterpart in the other set, tying it all together.

I like this photo from Tomomi H for her blog Dressup Doll. She did a great job of styling her outfit to the setting or, conversely, finding a setting that sets off her outfit by echoing its colors. Her subject is placed with room to move across the frame and is looking into the frame. She did a nice job of finding a good pose that not only gives a sense of movement, but also that quiet contemplation that the setting suggests.

I love this snapshot from Jenica Penucca for Zombie Popcorn. It’s fun and quirky, particularly in how completely the three subjects ignore each other. It has the feeling of a “herding cats” kind of photo which suits the conceit of it being a snapshot taken on the fly, one that gets tapedinto an album and looked at again and again through the decades. You can tell that this photo is looked at a lot because it’s been taped and retaped. Their uncooperative poses that are sort of anti-posed give them a personality. I can imagine someone looking back at their youthful service and thinking, “That’s so like her, wanting to make sure we got her good side,” and laughing nostalgically at the memory of old friends.

I love this very editorial shot from Kyrie Source for her self-titled blog. Kyrie always has such interesting styling and well-conceived photos that I could choose pictures from her every time she posts. This one, though, seems especially striking with that fabulous pose and that knowing look cast our way by her eyes. The general rule is that you leave space in front of the subject for them to move, but if you know what you are doing, you can break that rule, as Kyrie does in this photo. Why does it work? Part of the reason is that the real action and movement is her raised back leg. The other reason is that although she faces out of the frame, her head is turned just enough that her eyes are looking toward us, not out of the frame. This illustrates how the rules of composition are really just guidelines – and that if you employ other elements of good composition, you can break those rules and make an even more exciting picture.

I like this photo from Cady Fretwerk for her blog Divine Patterns. It’s a simple story-telling photo of a woman relaxing by candlelight because the lights are out. It was a brilliant metaphor for the internet blackout on Wednesday and an effective way to show her opposition to SOPA when her blog host did not make it as easy as other blog hosting sites did. I like the lighting and her faith that we will look a little closer because it’s so dark.

Nestag Itano is shooting movie homages for his blog Untouchable Life. I am really impressed with how effectively he captures the look and feel of Watchmen and the character Rorschach. While the background is simple, it’s steely greenish grey is evocative of the noir dystopia of the film. The subject is centered with his shadow grounding him. Meanwhile, the smiley behind him bring your eye a bit to the right so the photo does not feel completely centered and gives it a more dynamic feeling.

I also want to remind you that the Leonard Cohen Exhibit starts on January 21st and will continue for the next month, so be sure to go and see the magnificent work, some of which was highlighted in What I Like #55.

“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