The theme of the week is poses, and in that vein Strawberry asks us to do a pose challenge - where we talk about our favorite pose stores for a while. I actually keep my poses organized alphabetically in a HUD, so I'll be sharing my top movers and shakers in that order. I rarely use rezzing poses because I'm usually taking pictures in the field, so I'm going to focus on my most used and why I use them, focusing on stores which are still open. Like many people, my gateway store was Long Awkward Pose, and I have an extensive collecton of poses from her that I still use to this day, however I've branched out into a wide variety of pose stores, and keep collecting more all of the time.
Unlike many photographers, I do short "photoshoots" where I use a single pose store several times in a row in the same location. A lot of the structure of it is due to ease of recording exactly what I'm doing - jump location, windlight, and pose brand enough and you just get confused - but it's led to me categorizing a lot of stores by their general feel, and then selecting based on the mood I want to have for my images. I'll be discussing these impressions here, but keep in mind they're just one person's opinion - I highly recommend you check out the poses yourself to see hat you like best.
Adorkable Poses: Currently available on the marketplace; she closed her in world store a short while ago. What I love about Adorkable is how sweet, natural, and enthusiastic her poses are - they really aim to be cute and bouncy without the stiff, posed style of a more modelesque pose store. I also like the flowing nature - the head movements are interesting and the arms and legs are interesting. When I'm doing a cute, bouncy, "all around the sim" photo set, Adorkable is where I begin. ( All Adorkable Poses used here. )
!bang: With a wide selection of stands, one of my go to natural pose stores is !bang. I came to the store late, so it took a little while to build up my reserve, but now I have an astonishing range of poses to suit most occasions. I tend to think of !bang as my casual store - when I want something that seems breezy and effortless, I start here. Note in particular the delicate yet realistic placing of the feet above. ( All !bang poses used here. )
Don't Freak Out: I honestly don't remember where I ran across this store, but I know it was love at first demo.This store is one of the newcomers to my stable of choices, but they have quickly become a go to store when I want something moody and sly. Many of the poses have a playful vibe to them, and I love the attitude they have. ( All Don't Freak Out poses used here. )
Elephante: She is a bit of a dark horse and one I don't see as often, but I really like how dynamic and interesting her poses are. There are a lot of leaps, and arm reaches, and in general a sense of movement. I started picking up Elephante poses when they were largely prop-driven, but I've been really glad to see her show up more in just stand alone poses, and I hope she keeps expanding and creating her energetic poses. ( All Elephante poses used here. )
Exposeur: Is another dynamic pose creator, but what I adore the most is how well made her poses are, especially in the area of head-clipping. I have unusually long arms and a wide head for a Second Life Avatar, so I've resigned myself to a certain about of hand-in-face actions, but as you can see from the sheer amount of "hand next to face" poses in my images with Exposeur poses, not only do my hands not clip my head, but they also don't clip my hair. ( All Exposeur poses used here. )
Flowey: I found Flowey through Whiskey Monday's exclusive use of her, and what I like most about her poses are their expressiveness. Flowey poses are evocative of a wide variety of emotional states, from sadness to anger to grief to happiness, and that makes them compelling and fun to use for photoshoots. ( All Flowey poses used here. )
Glitterati: Closed in world, Glitterati also maintains a presence on the Marketplace, and was my go-to pose store from early on. I'll be entirely honest here and say a big part of it was her group sales; they meant that I could expand my collection of available poses without spending hundreds of thousands of Linden. Her poses are also wonderful, elegant, slightly modelesque without being stiff poses, and she would make categories of poses for specific purposes, like showing off jewelry, or to be worn with a wide skirt, which made difficult to pose outfits and images easier. I still return to her regularly, particularly when I have something refined to show off. ( All Glitterati poses used here. )
Grafica: Is a much smaller store than the ones I regularly use, but the poses are of such high quality and so dynamic and expressive that I simply can't resist. Grafica is particularly good at shoulders - SL Avatar shoulders and elbows are fraught things, but Grafica manages to bend them in awkward, unusual ways with panache. There is also a lot of leaping, leaning, falling, and floating, and all of it is awesome and fun. ( All Grafica poses used here. )
Hopscotch: I used Hopscotch early on in my blogging career, left it for a while to focus on other stores, and then was bitchslapped by awesome when I ran into her again. For a long time I had thought of her as largely a prop and rez pose store, but her stand alones have become completely off the hook and fun, and cover some rare areas of interest like stretching before a run. ( All Hopscotch poses used here. )
Olive Juice: She has only a tiny satellite store open now, but Olive Juice has long been a favorite for quirky and silly poses, and I still use them regularly when my mood is on the giggly and silly side. Her poses always seem slightly off kilter, and I particularly like the tripping and falling ones. ( All Olive Juice poses used here. )
I hope you enjoyed this short, pictoral travel through my pose collections. In a very real way, poses add the dynamic element of pictures of people, and I couldn't do what I do without them.
