New World Notes

Cajsa's Choices: Sesen Wingtips Creates Dreamy Photos from Second Life

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

Sesen Wingtips has a lovely photostream of dreamy, romantic photos. “We often meet our destiny on the road we took to avoid it” is a naturalistic picture of a woman walking down a city street on a windy day, but it would not be one of Sesen’s pictures without the touch of the fantastical, the shower of umbrellas.

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Aslan's Amazing Pics With a Japanese Aesthetic

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

Aslan’s photostream is filled with luscious pictures with a Japanese aesthetic. I am not just thinking of the avatar and the clothing, but also the style of photo with various oddments orbiting the avatars in a swirling pattern of beautiful mayhem. I also love the rich sumptuous colors in this picture.

Cajsa's Flickr Pick: Araceli Soto Tells Moving Stories With Second Life Images

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

Araceli Soto’s photostream is an emotional journey through her Second Life. As someone who fast forwards through ASPCA commercials and will never watch Don’t F**k with Cats, this picture warmed my heart. The quote from Anthony D. Williams is a good match for the snapshot, “When humans act with cruelty, we characterize them as 'animals', yet the only animal that displays cruelty is humanity…”

Cajsa's Friday Fashion Blog Choice: The Amazing Miaa Rebane

Miaa Rebane’s eponymous blog is one of my favorites. The home page is laid out like a high-end fashion magazine with pictures, texts, and a quote from Gianni Versace that every fashionista should take to heart. What? Am I going to include the quote. Nope, you have to go look for yourself.

One thing you will notice right away: Miaa loves color. Her pictures are supersaturated, an effect you can get by duplicating your picture and layering it with soft light, usually, or overlay. She posts a teaser photo like the picture above on Facebook, Flickr and Instagram, but that is just a tease. Her blog post is overflowing with exciting and beautiful pictures of the decor and the outfit. In fact, there are eleven photos that highlight different elements of the teaser photo.

Take this detail from the above blog post. It features a gorgeous handbag and a vase of flowers. I am a total handbag fiend and have far more than is healthy, though since I retired, I have to content myself with putting one box in storage and taking out another to freshen my collection. The handbag was released at Mowie and is at @Kustom9. It comes in blue, peach, and brown. Kustom 9 just closed, so you will have to watch for it on Marketplace as there is no physical store. The vase is from Plaaka (Glass Vase Poppy).

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Doddy Delivers Striking Virtual Landscapes & Still Lifes

Doddy’s photostream is extraordinary, rich in striking landscapes and still lifes. “Simplicity and a Quiet Mind” struck me as particularly beautiful. She shot it at Kindred Spirits sim for a photo contest. I love its quiet simplicity even though I am practically repeating the title. I love how the metal spokes and the handles are about the same size. I like the repeating round shapes, the wheels, the urn, and the bottom of the vase.

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Asahi Kanzaki's Amazingly Posed Images

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

Asahi Kanzaki’s photostream is a joy from beginning to end, not just because of his imaginative pictures, but because of the stories in his descriptions. In “To Hell with the Name” Anashi depicts a popular Japanese romance meme called kabedon. I love the humor in this photo. It reminds me a bit of Fred Astaire’s Ceiling Dance or perhaps some extreme planking, whatever his reference, he suspends the avatar horizontally across the hallway with several witnesses to his declaration of romantic affection.

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Anu Papp's Powerful, Deceptively Simple Photos

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

I love Anu Papp’s photostream. “Out Beyond” (above) is emblematic of her style. Unadorned simplicity with emotionally evocative power achieved through both the avatar positioning, the angle, and the use of light and shadow. This picture is shot from above over her shoulder. Their faces and bodies are closely held, dancing. He holds her hand delicately and appears to be listening as she speaks in his ear. The intimacy of their positions is amplified by the shadows that close in around them.

Cajsa's Choices: A Stylish Male/Female SL Fashion Blog Called Blond

Blond is a stylish and innovative fashion blog brought to you by Grant Valeska. Grant shoots several pictures and uses a composite on Flickr to tease the blog post which features the outfits used in the composite. On the blog’s main page, another photo is featured to encourage you to click through to the post and the risque photos are clearly marked for times when you may be at work or around small children. This photo is a teaser for “Alien Invading” featuring a fabulous hat and jacket. 

What is really cool is how well Grant styles two different outfits to complement each other so perfectly. It’s virtuoso styling. Do you like this? Well, what about this? Two outfits, one theme, and one post. I was drawn most to the outfit on the right and the post has an amazing crop for a headshot. 

• Jacket: Ascend – Ronnie Puffer Jacket (Black)
• Gloves: Ascend – Neel Biker Gloves NEW @ FAMESHED!
• Hat: NOIR – Vinny Winter Cap NEW @ ACCESS!

Grant also shoots fashion shots with his female persona:

Second Life Community Joins Worldwide One Billion Rising Campaign Protesting Violence Against Women

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

“SL: One Billion Rising Campaign” is an emotionally evocative image created by Valenska Voljeti as a reminder of the coming One Billion Rising Campaign protesting violence against women that happens in Second Life as the worldwide event happens throughout first life. It will take place on February 14th -- details for the SL event on the Facebook page here.

Valenska's image description contains quite a bit of information on the event in both worlds:

“Every February, we rise – in countries across the world – to show our local communities and the world what one billion looks like and shine a light on the rampant impunity and injustice that survivors most often face. We rise through dance to express joy and community and celebrate the fact that we have not been defeated by this violence. We rise to show we are determined to create a new kind of consciousness – one where violence will be resisted until it is unthinkable."

Valenska Voljeti, by the way, is an amazing Second Life image creator. Here's a couple more of her works:

Cajsa's SL Flickr Pick: Paola Trizomu Shoots Fashion With Breathtaking Style

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

I love “Feeling Good”, Paola Trizomu’s wonderful duotone with the light yellow. It’s such a fresh color and unusual approach. I also like the vintage look that suits the black and white avatar. The composite is done well, a third and two-thirds.