Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting
I don’t know who was the first Second Life photographer to compose photos in the style I have come to call “floating fantasies”, but Coqueta Georgia was the first I noticed. It was seeing her photos that made me notice other people working with similar weightless aesthetics, though of course, each with their own distinctive style. Coqueta’s style is certainly distinctive -- I immediately recognize her work without looking for her name. I admire her creativity, not just in framing her photos, but the styling of her outfits and the “set decoration” that makes her compositions so very complete.
In daily life, Coqueta is a musician. She plays instruments, gives lessons and directs choirs. Then logs into SL to disconnect. She wanted a creative outlet that was a rest from music, and found that in virtual photography.
She’s been blogging for three years at El Ático de SL (The SL Attic.) Originally she blogged with a partner who styled and posed for the photos that she took. When they parted blogging ways, she continued on her own, taking pictures of herself which she says became addictive, particularly when the positive response led to stores asking her to blog for their styles.
Tell us about yourself -- how did you come to SL?
Ten years ago, I read an article in the newspaper about a virtual world, a parallel world in which there were communities from all over the world and from my country. I found the concept of "Second Life" very interesting and to be able to fulfill there what in real life I could not do, so I decided to enter this world and became so addicted that I'm still here ...
What keeps you here?
It is like a therapy to disconnect from my real life, work, family, problems etc ... here I feel free and I feel that it is my world and my private space and I can do what I like. That makes me continue to enter this world that for me is wonderful.
Has SL had an effect on your first life?
It’s a world so highly communicative that it opened my mind. I learned to accept different cultures, customs and different ways of thinking. I have become a more liberal person, more open-minded and more sympathetic with other cultures.
Tell us about your art. How do you describe your style?
My style is based on fantasy and oneiric (dream-like), but at the same time, unintentionally it shows who I am and my inner world. That disturbs me a bit because I think it is easy to deduce my personality only by seeing my photos. In my style are my dreams, my love for animals and nature.
You seem to produce these floating fantasies? Can you think of a better name than the one I came up with?
I like the name you gave it (laughs)... The truth I have not thought of a name and did not think it was a style. I have always liked what floats and flies in harmony. In nature, too -- blow a dandelion or submerge under water and make bubbles. These are things that have always seemed wonderful, but in Second Life where everything is possible, why not make hearts and stars floating? It shows a conveys a feeling of lightness, or that things are suspended in the air gently, it seems pretty.
Whose work do you admire?
There are many admirable artists but to name one: I love Van Gogh, those skies with swirling clouds, spinning motion, or those stars that seem to move in curved shapes, his nests, his flowers, his peasants, everything in perfect balance and movement, gives me the feeling that it is music that has become image.
In Second Life I love Nekotto's pictures. They are so sweet. I admire the way she put thousands of objects in a scene and all in harmony.
I also like Rainbow Mubble’s pictures -- she has a dark "something" that causes me curiosity, I also admire the way she decorate her scenes with objects that are shown to be adapted and how they are transformed and adapt to this world -- terrifying and fantastic. but at the same time sweet and beautiful.
Since I was a girl I liked art, I am an admirer of all artistic movements and I believe that my inspiration is the sum of a series of images throughout my life. Renaissance artists, baroque, impressionists, contemporaries, comic sketchers like Milo Manara, architects and others, including poetry and literature, besides my childhood memories, experiences and of course the Cinema and music all that is source of inspiration.
Tell us about your process. Where do you find inspiration?
I am mainly inspired by the clothes that I must blog and objects that the events or stores send me. Sometimes a nice outfit is imagined in a certain way with certain elements of the nature, I try to balance the clothes and the image and if in the photo I can tell a story then much better.
But honestly some clothes limit me many times in my creativity and others opens a world of possibilities.
How do you go from idea to execution?
Immediately, if I have an idea I try to do it right away, although sometimes while doing everyday things IRL get ideas and try to remember them when I come to SL.First I look at what I must show (clothes) -- it gives me an idea of what I can recreate with it. Then I choose a color palette to use (depending on what I wear) then a choose a pose, many times this is fundamental because the poses give me an idea of what I can do and. Finally comes the decoration of the scene according to the vision I already have in mind. This is not fast, there are moments when an not come to me in two days and it is terrible because it creates delay.
Any tips for aspiring photographers?
Being original -- I see many , many people copying styles and photos, but I think the key to success in this is to have your own stamp and original style. Peoples should look at your picture and be able to know that it is yours without reading the name!
There is a the luster in your photos, how do you achieve this?
I create my own light and skies using the Second Life viewer, my photographs are 90% made in Second Life, I do everything there and then in photoshop I give the finish, so I do not delay in editing the photos but taking them it take me many hours.
Cajsa Lilliehook joined Second Life in 2007 and has been enjoying the art of SL ever since. Disliking the common practice of critiquing poor photos, she decided to highlight good ones and explain why they work in hopes of inspiring with praise instead of criticism.
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