“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
William Butler Yeats
Archive for the ‘Fantasy’ Tag
Moon Magic
Sojourn in Sindaria
When last we met, Jemmy was giving me the Dickens — in a joshing sort of way — over not properly introducing Morgan to the readers … in a Technicolor photoshoot of colorful alien skins and fantasial costumes.
To which … I agreed that she was right. And, as Morgan looked on in fascinated horror, I started to make my plans ….
Read the rest of this entry »Contact Sheet 65 — Meriluu
Contact Sheet is an irregular column of selected photographs and portraits from Residents of Second Life. All rights to featured images are reserved to the artists under appropriate copyright laws and/or allowances under the Creative Commons. Click on the links as necessary to go to the required blog or Flickr page. Please go to these artists’ pages in any case to leave comments, (as well as comments here).
Suggestions are appreciated; please send descriptions and links to me by in-world IM, notecard, E-mail to harper.ganesvoort@gmail.com, or leave a comment below.
NOTICE: Some of the photos/links may contain nudity. Viewer discretion advised.
If you’ve been checking the Flickr streams lately, you’ll have seen this costume, the Crystallize gacha from Moon Amore (available, if you want to drop the lindens, at the current round of The Epiphany). I’m not surprised it’s become so popular — this is one of the prettiest fantasial costumes I’ve seen in over 11 years in world.
But there are photos, and there are photos. Meriluu has given this photo some post treatment, and brought out all the potential such a magnificent costume latently carries within its folds. Some might argue about the “Rule of Thirds” being broken here; but rules were made to be broken in some cases. I’m tempted to tell them to let it– No; actually, I’m not that tempted. (Grin)
Any road, the flare of the gown’s skirt, with its burden of embedded crystals, forces an “off-balance” approach to the photograph. Meriluu solves this by cropping in tight, framing herself between the hem of the skirt and the sweep of icy power in the spell she casts. The orb she holds anchors her to the center of the photo, drawing your eye to this point first; for me, I tend to sweep around the composition counter-clockwise from there, starting with the skirt. The off-focus border surrounding the entire composition adds an additional touch of fantasy.
Hallowe’en 2018 — Darkness Reigns
“Darkness dwells within even the best of us. In the worst of us, darkness not only dwells but reigns.”
Dean Koontz, Strange Highways
Contact Sheet 64 — “=PM=”
Contact Sheet is an irregular column of selected photographs and portraits from Residents of Second Life. All rights to featured images are reserved to the artists under appropriate copyright laws and/or allowances under the Creative Commons. Click on the links as necessary to go to the required blog or Flickr page. Please go to these artists’ pages in any case to leave comments, (as well as comments here).
Suggestions are appreciated; please send descriptions and links to me by in-world IM, notecard, E-mail to harper.ganesvoort@gmail.com, or leave a comment below.
NOTICE: Some of the photos/links may contain nudity. Viewer discretion advised.
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Copyright 2018 by “=PM=”. Click on the photo for the artist’s page and full-size photo.
This artist, whose Second Life name I do not know, is one of those people I would love to be — she has a mastery of camera, composition and post-production that turns her photographs into something approaching hand-drawn-and-painted art. I enjoy most of her work, but this one hits all the buttons — the composition and positioning of the model is perfectly framed in the shot; the makeup draws your attention straight into the photo; the hairstyle and accessories frame her face nicely; and then the extended hand with its pipe and swirling smoke pull your eye across to the remainder of the photo. The spotlight adds emphasis on her, while creating excellent shadows to emphasize the drama of the photo.
Well done indeed!
Falling Down in Worship
Falling to his knees, the petitioner stretched out his arms and sent his voiceless plea to the skies, sending forth his plea to the goddesses with all his soul.
He soon got his answer.
In person.
“You interrupted our meditations for that???“ the goddess shouted, her face enraged at the petitioner’s impertinence. The walls of the temple trembled from the volume of the creature’s voice, while the man on the bolster before her cringed.
The goddess’ sister circled around to the fool’s backside, a sword of light materializing in her glowing hands. “You know that greater men than you have died at our hands for lesser sins than this.”
“But, gracious ladies,” the wretch burbled, arms outstretched, “I did not mean to offend!”
“And yet you did,” the goddess hissed. “And so you shall pay for what you have done.” She stretched forth a glowing hand, and the glow surrounded the poor fellow, who screamed and writhed — and then seemed to condense and curdle into himself. A flash of light, and then, where he had knelt, a silver platter rested, filled with a pile of a strange yellow substance.
The goddess picked the platter up and smiled grimly. “That should make the idiot happy. He did ask me to make him a plate of scrambled eggs, after all.”
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Harper and Jem wear the Amina gacha outfit from Luas, and Singapore boots from KC Couture. Harper’s hair: no.match_no.sleep; Azoury Secret collar. Jem’s hair: Letituier Budha; Zibska Varushka collar. Conan’s outfit: T. E. D. Tuilo. All skins by Plastik (Constella/Constus series, various shades).
Prêtresse de cristaux
Writing from Anniston, Alabama —
A little leftover business from Fantasy Faire; it never made it into the blog before the Faire closed, which is a pity. I think this is one of my better — or at least wilder and most colorful — costume “builds.” Here’s a first for me, by the way — I’m using a mesh body. I finally broke down and bought Maitreya Lara, essentially because there’s a small number of designers who are choosing to work only in one mesh form or another. What with the new Project Bento skeleton articulations coming in eventually, this will mean buying even more attachments or bodies at that point; personally, I’d rather not invest more gobs of virtual money in things I’ll probably be replacing within a year. But here we are now.
This dress is worth it, from a completely fantasial viewpoint. I cannot say if it is available in the main store yet; I don’t recall if this was a Fantasy Faire exclusive. If not, you may want to check it out. My inventory list I tacked onto this file (before I left home for a mini-vacation with the husband) shows the maker as “FANTAVATAR & MOONSTRUCK.” And it is colorful, to say the least! More color isn’t a bad thing, though, and so I added in the new Constella skin from Plastik, premiered at their store in FF Serenity, in Pandora shade.
Welcome One and All!
The gates are open at last; Fantasy Faire is here!
I’ve only been to two regions so fair, Fairelands Junction (of course) and Sapphire Mirror Lake (the arts region, where I’m standing here), but what I’ve seen so far has impressed. I’ve told the others to get themselves in here and take plenty of pictures as well as do some shopping — it will be worth it. And, while you visit, remember to be as generous as you can, not only to the stores, but to the main goal of Fantasy Faire, to raise money to fight cancer. through the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life program.
I’m wearing the Orianna gacha gown from Luas, which you can obtain quite easily from the gacha at her store. Or, I’ll tell you right now, I’ll be setting up a Marketplace store, and I’ll offer colors that you can pick and choose from for L$60, just L$10 over the gacha’s cost. I have a few I need to get rid of, you see, in my quest to get the rare [read ULTRARARE] jewelry items…. (Sigh) I’ll announce here when the store goes up.
Quiet Time
Photographed at Majilis al Jinn, Sands of Time region (rated adult)
WindLight: Torley’s SCIFI – Phlogiston
Around the Grid 