Props Challenge: Paintbrush Week

One of the things I love about a huge inventory, and a tendency to do hunts and squirrel things away, is moments like this week when I type in the word "paint" and this lovely prop from Studio Sidhe emerges from the labyrinthine depths of my Second Life Closet. A giant flower with mushroom attendances, upon which a fairy might repose to paint a ladybug, this prop was absolutely perfect for both me and this week's challenge.

The dress I'm wearing was in my "To Photograph" folder - where I keep the outfits I particularly like as a reminder to do photoshoots with them. I found it when I was looking for an in character outfit for my darling Zoe to wear, were she ever called on to be, well... official in one of her in character rolls. The requirements were for a bare neck, shoulders, arms, and showing lots of cleavage. I think this outfit meets those standards quite well without, dare I say it, descending into the realm of the sluttish.

The ladybug part made me seriously giggle because the book I just started tonight, Blameless features homicidal robotic lady bugs. It's also a charmingly British book in a series about what it might have been to have vampires and werewolves in Jane Austen's England - and does Austen and the time period in general much honor by managing to combine a slightly snobby pretension, satire, and action adventure with one of the most amazing protagonists it's ever been my pleasure to enjoy the company of. I picked up the first book, Souless on a whim, looking for a book to transport me out of my doldrums without being horrifically sexist or racist, and it manages that plus making me smile like a loon and lose track of time.

This fairy, though, lives in a different world of the suburbs, where she's trying to prepare the insects for inspection on the sly, while children play nearby. Look down now and then when you walk, and you might catch sight of her!

( The rest of the pictures are here. )

Credits: 

Skin: Miasnow, Rainbow Tan 3
Eyes: Tacky Star, Pride
Hair: !lamb, Wild Nothing - Honeycomb
Dress: Nomine, Rose Red Dress - Red with Dark Red Roses
Stockings: Sn@tch, Ribbed Knit Tights - Black
Shoes, G Field, Ribbon Slingback Shoes - crimson
Ladybug Pose Prop: Studio Sidhe, Ladybug Painting (paintbrush and paint included)

Location: Falln Sanctuary
Light Settings: [TOR] BIG SUN - Slips through walls 6

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week Five - Sepia

I have to admit, I quailed at this challenge and eyed my brown folder dubiously, but it only took a short time (my brown clothing is not numerous) to identify the dress I absolutely had to wear - and I had forgotten how beautiful it was. Timepiece 6, by PixelDolls, is absolutely gorgeous and an awesome example of how texturing and flexiprims can create what seems like a cohesive outfit, even when it's really more complicated than that.

I ended up going to the World's End Garden for taking pictures, after some dithering to find a place that was primarily brown. It was hard to get Windlight settings which worked - brown is not an easy color to work with - and the setting I ended up with, Siennarel, had the bonus of some brilliantly colored lights depending on which way you turned.

Looking for a spot for my final picture, I ended up literally falling through the floor, and fell into an area of World's End Garden which I hadn't seen before, which was where the carousal had disappeared to. Combined with the falling cages and fences, it formed the backlight for several more pictures, and the path out forced me toward picture ten. I can truly say for this serious of pictures that World's End Garden as a sim inspired a lot of the images.

This is by a large tree which appears in the background of one of the other pictures. Beside it, unseen by me until I approached, was a rising line of butterflies and I was determined to include them in the picture. This, my favorite image, was the result.

(The rest of the photoshoot is here.)


Credits:

Eyes: Tacky Star, Pride
Skin: Doux Petit, Rainbow Love - tone 2
Hair: Calico Ingmann Creations, Suzume - Burnt Golden
Dress: PixelDolls, Timepiece 006
Shoes: G Field, Short Lace-up Boots - Brown

Pose: Striking Poses, Camera Candy 4

Light Settings - [TOR] DUSK - Siennarel
Location: World's End Garden

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Prop Challenge: Week One - Umbrella

This challenge was a real challenge.

I have some umbrellas, but to be honest it's not an accessory I use often. I keep them because they're pretty, and I'm a bit of a packrat. I ended up using an old outfit I got from Dilly Dolls that came with a matching umbrella - Lexia. I liked the effect of the full match and the mixing of black, white, and blue together.

The hardest part was finding poses, though. I sorted through loads of my poses, over and over again, trying to find ones that work with an umbrella and that let me highlight that umbrella. I've been overall determined with these challenges to use things I already have in my inventory, or as much as possible, since it gives me a chance to delve into the depths of my inventory and bring some awesome clothes to light.

Editing these pictures, though, I've become aware of another influence on them. I've been feeling very conflicted recently - both personally and professionally I've repeatedly felt like the most abject failure. I've been beating myself up, trying to focus on other things, running away from my own thoughts and feelings. It's a sort of whitewash, much like these pictures put the essential darkness of how I've felt for the last month or so in sharp contrast with the careful way I've been covering up what I'm feeling.

I don't know if this is a sensible way to react to pain, but I've been managing to walk on the crust of snow and avoid the frozen depths beneath. I know, however, that under the darkness new life is resting and waiting for spring.

Credits:

Eyes: Miriel, Standard Eyes, Light Blue
Skin: Doux Petit, Rainbow Love - tone 2
Hair: Magika, Bow - Black A
Dress: Dilly Dolls, Lexia Blue
Shoes: Favole, The Nightmare
Accessories: Milk Hall Fair's Attic, Shawl; Sn@tch, Long Gloves Black; G Field, Halloween Spider-web Tights - Black

Pose: POSEbility, Attitude2

Light Settings - Original
Location: Calas Galadhon

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week Four - Plum

I have to admit, the almost immediate jump to unusual colors makes me giggle.

It's week four, and the color is PLUM!. I literally came across this dress when a friend dragged me to one of the stores he likes and the color jumped off the wall at me. I bought it immediately, planning to use it for This Very Challenge.

The location is The Lost Gardens of Apollo, a place shown to me by former friends I'd fallen out of touch with. I'd kept meaning to use it as a place to take pictures (and honestly I likely will again in the future - it was really a lovely spot), so when I went through my old landmarks I gave it a try!

I even got chatted up a little there.

I ended up with a softer, pinker shade of plum - guided by the color on Luna's blog post and the dress I found. I worried continuously it was a little too pink, but I ended up loving the colors so much that I went with it. This is closer to the flower color of plum than anything found on a fruit - though I adore the fruits, too. The gold is reminiscent of the flesh of the plum, too, I think! Plum and god, dancing all across the garden.

Credits:

Eyes: Miriel, Standard Eyes, Light Blue
Skin: MVS, Xtreme Reality - Marie Plum Baroque
Hair: Raspberry Aristocrat, Berry Sassy - recolored more plum
Dress: RC, Knitted Lace One Piece, Pink
Shoes: G Field, Ribbon Slingback Heels - recolored more plum

Pose: Elisa, Giselle3

Light Settings - [EUPHORIA] Plum Sunset
Location: The Lost Gardens of Apollo

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week Three - Goldenrod

I think this is my favorite photoshoot of all time. The golden, the surroundings, and the prop I splurged on all combine to make something that, well... I'm honestly proud of.

It's Goldenrod week and the world is seriously brightening up. I ended up going to Tol Narwa Vire, one of my favorite sims of all time, and rezzing a gorgeous rosebush from G Field with a plethora of poses involved. My favorite is Sunburn. I'm very fond of the effect of the light shining through and blurring things, and I think it really brings to life the color of goldenrod.

Also ironically, the color theme at my favorite roleplaying sim, Wood Bourne, for their Friday night dance was yellow. So in addition to the slew of goldenrod pictures for this blog that I took (twelve!), I also have a whole set of Fangbangers, the Vampire Club, decked out in the colors of sunshine. I didn't even have to change!

There's nothing quite like vampires in yellow. It suits them!

Credits:

Eyes: Miriel, Standard Eyes, Light Blue
Skin: MiaSnow, Rainbow Tan 3
Hair: Majika, Friday - Blond
Dress, Wings, Shoes: G Field, Rose Fairy Yellow and Ribbon Slingback Shoes Mustard
Rosebush: G Field (rezzed temporarily)

Pose: All in the rose bush
Light Settings - Peach Pesche - made more yellow
Location: Tol Narwa Vire

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week Two - Blue

Week two of the Weekly Color Challenge! The color was blue, and I went a little over saturated - which was very, very fun!

My mom came by this week and I showed her the pictures I'd taken. Her favorite is my choice for the week - Impatient. The other pictures are in their own set on my Flickr.

I took these on Falln Sanctuary, the home sim of two friends of mine in Second Life, Azriel and Tomoyuki. The former runs a divine series of stores called Falln Angel Creations. The latter runs a fantastic jewelry and accessory store called Little Boy Blue, and is my primary temptor on Second Life! He's always sending me pictures and links that make me melt into various puddles of goo. The latest is Prince Poppycock, who is a divine Operatic Singer who makes me freaking swoon. I highly recommend you check him out!

Credits:

Eyes: Miriel, Standard Eyes, Light Blue
Skin: MiaSnow, Rainbow Tan 3
Hair: Burning Chrome, Butterfly Caught (with blossoms)
Dress, Wings, Shoes: Evie's Closet, Whimsy - Blue

Pose:
Light Settings - Blue Midday - heavily modified
Water Settings - Glassy
Location: Falln Sanctuary

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Color Challenge: Week One (Late) - Gray

Luna Jubilee came up with an idea of a yearly color blog, and I thought I'd give it a try. Of course, in true me style.... I'm a week late.

So this is last week's. Shhhh.

The color is gray, and I had fun setting a windlight that would turn most everything gray, and my color lights for photography to gray and black (I don't usually have a facelight these days, but when I photograph I use a series of lights worn to highlight different things. It's literally the only light source in the pictures I took; the atmosphere is very dark).

My favorite is Up and Out.

I found the gray focus oddly cathartic. I've had a couple of pretty gray weeks as I coped with unexpected losses, and there's something about seeing the world in only gray that makes the colors all the more brighter.

( See the other pictures here. )

Credits:

Eyes: Miriel, Standard Eyes, Light Blue
Skin: MiaSnow, Rainbow Tan 3
Hair: Exile, Wild Thing - blackgold
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle - shrunk and recolored black
Dress: Hal*Hina, Flower Mini Dress, Dark Grey
Shoes: G Field, Short Lace-Up Boots, Gray
Gloves: Sn@tch, Long Gloves Grey

Pose: Leafy Hang
Light Settings - [Euphoria] Air Pollution
Water Settings - Glassy
Location: Spencer Museum of Art 

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping only

Fall Twisted Hunt

I'm photographing the twisted hunt again this fall, because I am insane! This time I'm trying to take it in smaller bites, though. We'll see how it goes!!

Check out this flickr group for the updated pictures. So far I've photographed through 10.

Shiny Flickr Link of Doom and Candy.

The hunt is definitely a difficult one, but the new skills I've gained (particularly derender) are saving my butt.

I phail

Yes, I spectacularly managed to post ONCE for blogger challenge week... then not again.

I blame Bink.

Belated Blogger Challenge #1

Alicia Chenaux does a yearly blogger challenge - and this year... I shall try.

Today's Topic: Why did you become a blogger? How has it enriched your life?

I became a blogger to show off my pictures.

Getting dressed up and taking pretty pictures of how I look was one of my early second life hobbies. Self-aggrandizing, yes. Also enjoyable. One thing I'm a little sad about is that I much more rarely, now, do what I call "photoshoots," trying to highlight not only the amazing stuff I begged/borrowed/stole and if no other means bought along with placed I had found that I really liked.

I like trying to balance the two, to set them up so they fit together and yet set each other off.

As for how it's enriched my life... it really hasn't. I'm not a big time blogger, I have met more people through their blogs than through mine. ^.^