New World Notes

Cajsa's Choices: The Sexy, Neo-Noir Second Life Imagery of Tyler Oysternatz

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

There you are, happily scrolling through Flickr photos of lovely landscapes, kawaii fashionistas, and vendor pics and suddenly there is this brooding, enigmatic photo. A man lounges with a cigarette while the candlelight highlights his musculature and reveals the menace in his thoughts. This is not just a picture of a man smoking, this is a story and that is why Tyler Oysternatz’ photostream is so captivating–and sometimes so scary. His pictures make me think of noir films and novels. In my interview with him, I discovered there’s a book by one of my favorite writers, Georges Simenon, that I have not read. It’s going on my list. Oysternatz thinks deeply about his art, and that thought is reflected in his work and in the interview:

In terms of organizing principles or aesthetics, your photos are remarkably consistent. How would you describe your aesthetic?

My aesthetic is my inner daemons, my obsessions, and my influences. I would describe my style as mystificated, impressionistic, with slightly visual distortions.

Light (or lack of it) is an important element in your photos? How do you achieve or develop your lighting? How much is deliberate and how much is spontaneous?

Painting with light is the main reason for my photography. For me, light beams are as a brush is to a painter. I use light to create the atmosphere I want in my images. Mostly I use projectors for my pictures, because I can fully control them, I barely use sunlight. And because I want to have full control over my images, there is nothing spontaneous about them. Actually I don't believe that there is anything spontaneous in art at all, every piece of art requires lots of preparation and work. If someone says that he is spontaneous he is either lying or he is just acting randomly. Random is not a word that can describe art.

Much more from Tyler after the break!

Spectacular Second Life Screenshots Inspired by Famous Movies

Oh this is a fun Flickr group for movie lovers who are also virtual world fans -- beautifully composed (and occasionally post-produced) Second Life screenshots inspired by popular and classic films. (Above, of course, an awesome tribute to Mad Max; Fury Road, i.e., best movie of the last decade, by a dude named Noddington Schmooz.) Many of the images are from a 2016 challenge from SL blogger Strawberry Singh, but others have been added since then. Here's ten of my favorites -- see if you can guess the movies they're inspired from (answers at the end):

Above by Samuel Moorsider

Above by Noddington Schmooz

Above by Noddington

Many more below!

Cajsa's Choices: Magnificent Photos from SL's Mermaid Roleplay Community

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Are mermaids cetaceans? They are aquatic mammals. In our first lives, live sightings of mermaids are limited, mainly to myth and art. In Second Life, there are many sightings and even contemporary photographs that prove mermaids exist. I thought it might be informative to take a look at some of the photographic evidence.

From the sirens who sang ancient sailors to their death and the fabled city of Atlantis to the Little Mermaid and Daryl Hannah, mermaids have fascinated. It’s no surprise then that there are vibrant mermaid role-playing communities in Second Life. Destinations highlights many of the underwater sims that host merlife. There’s even an organization to promote the harmony and safety of merfolk called the Safe Waters Foundation. On Flickr, there are several groups including Second Life Merfolk, Mermaids of Second Life, Second Life Mermaids, and Undersea Second Life.

Sugarfairy88 Resident’s No Grave But The Sea (above) caught my eye with the bold red coloring of the mermaid. Most of the time the mermaids we see are in the blue to green spectrum which is odd when the ocean is full of bright and colorful fish. This picture seems to confirm the notorious reputation of mermaids as sirens who lure sailors to their death.

۰˚Yukino ۰ 火の鳥 雪乃˚۰ shared this photo called Fish Dinner 4 that reveals that the peril is bi-directional. This photo is an excellent example of how framing can direct your eye, we see the diner looking at the mermaid, the hands framing the mermaid and all are directed toward the upper right. I love its unique perspective on the mermaid question, eschewing the usual romanticism. It also reverses the usual predator-prey relationship between the air and water breathers.

Many more mermaid roleplay pics after the break!

Cajsa Choices: Alisaundra Andel Photographs the Virtual World in All Its Wild Variety

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Don’t you just love it when someone looks at an ordinary scene, then shifts their focus and the angle of vision and everything is suddenly completely different? That happens a lot with Alisaundra Andel. Look at the photo above, “Run Away With Me Now.” Most people would click on the couple, bring them into focus and let the vases and lights fade, but she reverses the focus, creating an intimate photo of a couple engrossed in each other.

Andel’s photostream is widely varied. There are fashion photos, landscapes, tableaus that tell a story, and everything in between:  

How would you describe your style for your photos?

My style varies really, I jump from fashion to landscape to candid to portrait to stock. I don't like just slapping them on a background and click click click click done. It has to speak to me... as long as they all tell some sort of story, then I am happy.   

Who are your inspirations?

That's a tough question for me really. Most people would say things like "I look toward XYZ and when I grow up I want to be like them" ....I don't do that. If you look at my flickr favorites section, its rather small for the norm. The people that are in that section are the people that inspired me. And when I say inspire, I mean they had me pause what I was doing to look at their work. But if I must choose someone.. Syn Beresford. That woman is an artist through and through. After that, because I said that I feel things, credit for my inspiration goes to people like Kadaj Yoshikawa, Kilik Lekvoda, Sharni Azalee, Alia Baroque. The creators of SL.   

Cajsa Choices: Meet Anouk A., Minimalist Fashion Photographer in Second Life, Acclaimed Artist & SF Novelist in Real Life

“Global Rose” by Anouk A.

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

I was drawn to Anouk A’s art the first time I saw her work, commenting on the photo. She sent me a message telling me she was Kyrie Source in a previous incarnation. Since I was similarly drawn to Kyrie’s work, of course Anouk spoke to me. What I like about her work is how clean and simple it is. Minimal.

There’s this marvelous conundrum with simplicity. Done right, simplicity is more revealing and more emotionally powerful than complexity. It can be like a punch in the gut, simple, powerful, and you feel it. That’s what her artwork is like for me. Some of her work is very challenging for me. I appreciate her ability to find beauty in everything and her exploration of the boundaries of the feminine. Her photostream is challenging, beautiful, and fascinating. The artist behind the pictures is equally challenging, beautiful, and fascinating.

Tell me a bit about yourself. What brought you to SL, how long have you been in SL?

My name IRL is Karoline Georges, I’m a French-Canadian published writer and a professional artist. I’ve published seven books, most are sci-fi novels. I write in the French language, but you can find my third novel, “Under the Stone”, in English. As an artist, I use video, 3D modeling, photography and music to create my artworks. I show my work in art galleries and festivals both in America and in Europe.

I created my first avatar, Kyrie Source, back in 2006. I started to blog in 2009, did over 500 images with Kyrie, then felt the need for a pause. At first, I wanted to explore the literal concept of «femme-image» (I don’t know if you have an English expression to translate the idea?). It was a way to pursue the quest of the sublime of a character from one of my published novels. When I created my second avatar, Anouk A., I was working on a new novel … inspired by my journey in SL! So I wanted to explore, furthermore, photography, but also what it means to create a digital self, what are the new ideals of beauty, what does it mean to be feminine here and now.

 

Cajsa's Choices: Tamary9, Master of Slice of (Virtual) Life Art Photography

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

I love photos that feel spontaneous, as though caught in the moment on a whim. While they must be carefully staged, they feel as though none of that happened, but rather the photographer just click-click-clicked and caught a moment. Tamary9 is that kind of photographer, which is why I enjoy her work so much. This opening photo is exactly what I mean. It feels spontaneous and authentic. I love it!

Let’s get real, good spontaneous photos in Second Life are as rare as good photos of people dancing in real life. To take a photo, we generally choose a pose, create a setting or hunt for one, fiddle with the WindLight, move the sun around, adjust a prim here or there, calibrate the hover height, check for intersections, and by then, our slice of life is more like a still life. So how Tamary achieves that mood, that sense of immediacy, fascinates me and was a focus on my interview. (With some assistance of a Japanese-English language software translator.)

She describes her photos as "slice of life" which is how I describe them as well. In her words, “I love the moment of ordinary everyday life, so my photos should not be an elaborate design, moment and facial expressions.”

Much more of her work and world after the break! 

Six Huge Second Life-Themed Flickr Groups to Follow

Caroline Apollo very kindly shared her list of Second Life-related groups on Flickr, and they're considerably larger than the ones I previously listed:

• Flickrites of Secondlife, 19631 subscribers
• Second Life - Avatars, 13138 subscribers
• SecondLife, 12643 subscribers
• i ❥ Second Life, 12578 subscribers
• Second Life Fashion, 11207 subscribers
• Avatars with Attitude!, 10278 subscribers
• Photographers of Secondlife, 10046 subscribers

Any others in the five or six-figure subscriber range readers should know about?

Cajsa Choices: 12 of My Favorite Holiday-Themed Photos from Second Life

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat, and seasonal photos are where it’s at. I absolutely love “Couldn’t Resist” from Samanda Eddingham Jewell. I am drawn in by the angle, the perspective that places the rope in the forefront, showing the subject from the back. The slumped shoulders suggest sorrow and loneliness–something many experience during the holidays when they are far from home. I love how depth of field focuses our eyes.

Yes, this magnificent Christmas photo “Merry Christmas to You All” is from Second Life. The artist Doni even explains how she created it and the items she used on her Flickr page. Doesn’t it look just like an old-fashioned illustrated Christmas card? Some of it is how it is framed by the evergreen boughs. It’s beautifully balanced without perfect symmetry which makes it far more interesting than absolute symmetry can ever be. I love the imagination and the creative way it pays homage to the past. And yes, I know it’s from 2011, but I didn’t have this column back then to highlight it.

“Driving Home for Christmas” by Eria Ziemia is an exquisite photo. The lighting is beautiful, the fence forms leading lines and there is even an ess-curve road. This incorporates so many excellent elements of excellent photo composition, but even better, it’s evocative, calling up emotions and memories of years past.

For those of us who love stunning photo compositions, the return of Moos Hultcrantz with this photo called “Baja Norte” was an early Christmas gift. Hultcrantz creates amazing scenes that are set in time and place with an eye for detail and authenticity. His photosets are always complete, but not overstuffed. They are not made to stuff as many bloggable items in the frame as possible, but to be as authentic as possible while telling a story. I don’t know him, but I have missed him during his hiatus.

Many more below the break!

What Are the Largest Second-Themed Flickr Groups?

I'm compiling a list! On a basic Flickr search, the top three groups are:

• *Second Life Glamour* (Fashion is Art) with 8,101 Members now (depicted above)
• Second Life Residents with 7,667 Members now
• Second Life® - Look Of The Day with 7,191 Members now

However, I don't trust raw Flickr searches, since they're likely to miss groups with poor SEO titles. Also, the last time I looked into this 6-7 years ago, there were several SL-themed groups with members in the five figures. So which groups are larger?

Have You Met the Post-Apocalyptic Kitty Cats Guarding Tralala's Diner in the Dead of Virtual Winter?

Jamisson Burnstein has, and so should you (click to embiggenate and for map location). Tralala's Diner, of course, is owned by none other than Ms. Tralala Loordes, a fascinating cyberpunk mistress recently profiled here, whose killer kitties make me want to know more.