New World Notes

Find SL Sites to Visit By Visiting the SL Blog, Living in a Modem World

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

“A Touch of Dim Sum Gardens in Second Life” is one of many travel posts from the prolific historian and explainer of Second Life, Inara Pey. Here she explores a beautiful Asian-inspired full sim with gardens, statues, and so much to see she discovered new things on her second visit. There are several photos and a well-explained travel tour of the Gardens in her post. 

• Dim Sum Gardens (Malrif, rated General)

Another post with what seems a fun challenge below the cut:

SL Flickr Pick: Emi's Beautiful Beach Photos Drenched by the Virtual Sun

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

“Blinding” is the word not just for this picture, but for Emi’s stream of sundrenched photos. She has a love of the sunlight that cannot be denied. We see her from the back, lit by a blinding sun and framed by fiddlehead ferns and other foliage. It’s well done and shows her uniquely sunny style. 

More sunny pics ahead:

SL Flickr Pick: Gorgeously Ambiguous Female Avatar Photos by Bee

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

Bee’s D.U.S.H.A. caught my eye with its brilliant chiaroscuro effect. It has the tone of light and shadow from the old Dutch masters, but really what it reminded me was an old SCTV sendup of Ingmar Bergman. If you watch it, you will understand. It must be the heat making me lightheaded. If you get a kick out Ingmar Bergman satires there is none better than De Dűva.I must confess my friends and I took to saying “H2Oska” for water for far too long.

More of her striking use of lighting that seems to add subtext to her photos.

A Second Life Fashion Blog That's Also an Avatar Roleplay Diary

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

Everlina Kindred has a different approach to blogging. She creates her pictures and provides what details she chooses to highlight on Flickr and uses her pictures to illustrate her diary which she posts to about twice a month. This pictures of for Entry #68 and in-character diary of her role play. This comes complete with a tarot reading 

• Hair by Doux (Dam1710)
• Palazzo Jumpsuit by Sallie (Sallie Takao)

An earlier diary describing school activities next.

Second Life Screenshots Made Into Breathtaking, Ansel Adams-Like Imagery

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

Kato Salyut is limiting his work to black and white, as he explained in his “About” page: 

“As part of my effort to protest the current political climate in DC I am limiting my colors to mono and duo-tone images. Occasionally a glimpse of color can be seen when there is a crack in the power structure. Always looking for that crack and hoping it grows letting in even more color. I love color, rich greens, reds, gold and blue. I am always tempted to post in color. Unfortunately the air in DC is so putrid, the decisions against humanity and the environment are unforgivable.”

In his skilled hands, black and white is not limiting though. This “Landscape” is rich in detail and reminiscent of the great Ansel Adams whose best work was in black and white. I love the detail in this picture, how the rock face is not just a plane of gray, but this mottled mix of colors, the roughness of the rock and the lichen are captured in high relief. 

Kato Salyut has a surreal side to his work in his next photo.

Amazing Untouched Environmental Photos Shot in SL With Black Dragon

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

It’s been a while since Loverdag has been featured here. Because her work is so distinctive, I thought I must have already done a post about her. She is one of my favorite SL artists. But I so loved this unedited photo “Dream Village” that I decided to search to see if it’s been over a year, and tadah! I haven’t written about her at all. So what makes me love this? It’s probably not intentional but she captures the lighting before a hailstorm. The clouds are cirrus, the fair weather clouds, but the dark sky with the light so intense and slightly yellow is a sign of hail. With the high winds, the leaning telephone pole, and the precarious buildings that could be dismantled by high winds and it gave me that exhilarating feeling I would sometimes get right before a storm. I can almost smell the freshness of the air. 

More stunning landscapes below -- as with the one above, taken with the Black Dragon viewer without post-processing.

Xanax Blackout is a Bettie Page-esque Avatar Who Creates Amazing, Boundary-Pushing SL Imagery

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

x a n a x b l a c k o u t is a queen of the erotic with an avatar who is kissing cousins with Betty Page and an eye for exposure of the not-quite-over-the-edge kind. This picture attracted me with its use of black and white to bring it down to form which is where all the shapes and angles are highlighted. It is a microblog post about chairs - and yet, somehow, the chairs have a whole new context.

More remarkable work ahead:

SL Flickr Pick: Nayra Collas Creates Amazing Avatar Fantasy Images

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

Nayra Collas’ photostream is alive with wonder and fantasy. In “Some people love power, others have the power to love,” she situates her avatar in a fantastical setting where even the flowers seem to be paying attention while a bird rests between her hands. The lighting is beautiful as well.

More fantasy ahead. 

Second Life Screenshots Turned Into Stylishly Retro Polaroids by BAD Racine

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

If you recall the days of Polaroids when you snapped your picture, watching the camera spit it out, and then waited for it to develop. Some people would wave it back and forth in the air, certain their technique would speed the development. Bad Racine’s photostream makes me think of that. “What’s in your mind...Tell me” is such a caught in the moment, slice-of-life picture I can’t resist featuring it. But then, her entire stream is caught in the moment. 

More of Racine’s slice of life pictures after the break.

French Photographer Nick Rhodes Has Shot Amazing & Stylish Images in Second Life For Over 16 Years

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

I recently discovered Nick Rhodes’ photostream. It’s relatively new, started in 2018 by an avatar that has been around a long time. In fact, he is the first Frenchman in Second Life and was first featured in New World Notes in 2004. [A tale of broken romance! - ed.] This picture appealed to me because it is so atmospheric. Does he not look filled with terror? What does he see out of the corner of his eye? What is outside that window? 

After the cut, he shows you what they do in France.