On photography

My personal rule is every post has to have a photo to make my blog more visually appealing and interesting. I am not a photographer IRL and I had no clue what I was doing when I started blogging in November 07. I still have no clue but I have taken thousands of photos so I am learning as I go. Most of my photos have no post processing at all other than cropping. I do use Picnik on some photos, which is a really sweet tool within Flickr that lets Photoshop impaired people like me play with their images.

Still, everyone knows Photoshop is the tool to use if you are serious about your images. There are a few impediments to using Photoshop. First is the cost as the software is very expensive if you have to buy it at the full retail price which is more than $600. The second problem is Photoshop is not intuitive (at least for me), there are about 734 tools and they can be complicated to understand. Clearly, it takes an investment of time to learn even the basics of how to use Photoshop. I do think you need a PhD to take advantage of all the tool has to offer. Either that or a lot of time and patience, which are two things that are always in short supply for me.

I am lucky in that I work at a University and we get big discounts on software so I was able to buy Photoshop for very little money. Months ago I took the plunge and bought Creative Suite 3. I have tried over and over to teach myself how to use this handy dandy software. I read books. I use the "help" section and I still had no idea what I was doing and I was getting frustrated. So, over the past few days I got more serious. Again my employer came to the rescue with a free online course that allows me to watch videos at my convenience that walked me through the basics.

I still have about a million miles to go but this is my first attempt at post processing a SL photo in Photoshop.



This picture was taken at La Reve, which is one of the most beautiful sims in SL and deserves a full post, which I intend to write. But first, I need to play with some images in Photoshop.

gardens

I am in the process of building a koi pond and garden benches. I added a few nice trees and am filling in with Linden trees to keep my prim count as low as possible. Its amazing what a difference a few trees make to the overall look and feel. More to do. More to come.

(best larger)

Down the Rabbit Hole

This is going to be a quick little drive by post.

Today I visited Down the Rabbit Hole , which is an installation by LittleToe Bartlett that is part of SL5B. I adore Alice in Wonderland and often living in Second Life feels to me like I have jumped down a rabbit hole. It is not surprising that I loved this installation. These photos are all completely untouched, not even cropped. Still they are better larger. Clickety click, please.










Take a trip down the rabbit hole folks, you won't be sorry you did. I am certainly glad I made the jump.

Roof RC 3.0 -- Dazzle is not mandatory

Lyndon Heart at Molaskey's Tonight!!

Some days you just get lucky. Tonight Lyndon Heart is playing at Molaskey's on the beach at 7pm. If you have been meaning to come experience live music in SL this is a great opportunity to hear one of the most seasoned performers on the grid. Lyndon is George Michael in RL and you can learn more about him on his website. You can also hear some of his original music at thesixtyone.com and on myspace.

So, tonight at 7pm come as you are and hang out with me! Bring a friend! Think about introducing someone who has never heard live music inworld to one of the great joys of Second Life. IM me for a tp or click here for a Surl to Molaskey's.

From Lyndon's website:
"Lyndon Heart was born January 10th 2006 and promptly caught the Second Life live music bug. He has since appeared on most of SL's premiere stages and brought his eclectic repertoire of acoustic rock, folk, and blues to an avid flock of digital fans. With a playlist that encompasses a range of originals, covers, and lesser-known gems, Lyndon's gigs are all about the music while inspiring a crowd to dance, wiggle, and squeal."



This is photo was taken last fall on the old Molaskey's beach stage



Please join us tonight for what promises to be a great show!

house building -- the never ending saga of the ugly roof

I have been working on our house for a bit now. The roof is driving me crazy. Now I understand why so many buildings have no roof at all or have a simple flat roof. Grr....

Anyway, here are a few pics I took very quickly this morning. What do you think so far? (Just tell me its nice please? I never built a house before. thanks.)






For absolutely sure I am going to rip that roof off again. If anyone has sage advice about how to make a Japanese style roof that isn't coyote ugly like mine please take pity on me. I am not begging for help from you real builders but it just might come to that.

The Chestnut Rau Phenomenon

My friend Nasus Dumart has drafted me for a huge project. I am a little nervous and need all of you to help, please. Vote for me!

Thanks so much for your support.

ZOMG - I <3 HUDDLES!

Ok. So. Remember when I posted that my Huddles loaded with all my dances disappeared about two weeks ago? I tried all the standard things -- I looked all over the sim, highlighted my objects, cleared cache about 10,432 times, blah blah, woof. No Huddles. One thing I did not do was contact LL because, honestly? Why bother. I bought a new Huddles and started to collect dances again. I decide this loss was intended by the grand gods of the internet to remind me that our "stuff" is all just code and not "things" we should really get attached to anyway.

Then in my daily read of about 742 blogs I came across a post on Keiki Liemux's blog that led to the miraculous return of my Huddles and all my lost dances from SineWave and Animazoo. Keiki is the talented creator of the Huddles, which is a great little HUD that you can load with dances or poses or even an AO. I use my Huddles to store dances because it is easy to load and easy to use. You rez the Huddles on the ground and then drag and drop your dance animations on the object. Then you take the Huddles back into your inventory, wear it and you are ready to invite up to 15 people to dance with you.

One thing you DO NOT DO after dropping new dances in your Huddles is click on "wear" when the HUD is on the ground. If you do your Huddles can disappear, just like mine did. This is known as the "detach bug." Basically what is happening is during the process of attaching HUDs they sometimes disappear. In the case of Huddles Keiki advises users to NEVER wear the Huddles from the ground because they are known to get lost this way. The "detach bug" can happen in other ways too so I wanted to post about this so more people are aware of the problem. Luckily if Linden Labs runs an "Inventory Repair" or a "Directory Repair" for you it may be possible to get your HUD back. Please go vote for the Jira and help us get Linden Labs to fix this problem as people are losing expensive AOs and other HUDs.

Yesterday I created a support ticket and eventually got help from Frontier Linden. When I logged in this morning my Huddles was back in my inventory!! I will say that the Customer Service end of LL is profoundly broken. The fact that I was so sure I would not get help and didn't even bother to seek assistance at first says something about me or about LL, maybe both. I owe a debt of gratitude to Keiki both for her amazing product and for her blog posts which gave me the information I needed to get my Huddles and my dances back.

Still, I take the lesson of all this to heart. Our in-world "stuff" is just code. What is really important, just like in RL, are the people who make Second Life great.

I will end with a picture of me DANCING using my beloved Huddles. (Go buy one! )

Texture dance

One of the very first things Ches and I built on Love was the deck. The basic visual of it, a translucent deck, vaulting out from the cliff face, over the water, has been a constant in the build, from the beginning. what's been there just as long, has been a sort of continual unhappiness with the actual texture on the deck's surface. I think, over the past six weeks, it's been about 20 different colors and variations.

So, a few days ago, Ches says, "Hey, I saw this cool bridge, with an amazing texture on it, go take a look at it for the deck." and dropped a slurl on me. I hopped, and found a bridge, over an gully, with a lovely star field texture.

Well, ok, the texture didn't seem to be for sale. So.. I went poking around a bit, and found a nice seamless textures with a star pattern on it. That yielded the blue, stay speckled deck on the left. Now, this was better, but it wasn't nearly as pretty as what we wanted. So, off to Google images, to look for pretty starfields. A small hunt later, yielded some very pretty shots of real stars, and, better still, lots of pretty galaxy and nebular shapes. There was only one problem. If you're going to lay down a texture on a prim, you really need to have it be a seamless one. For those who haven't delved into the details of SL prim texturing, this means, if you repeat it, you don't want an obvious line where the images repeat.

Off to Google again, for tutorials on creating seamless images. (Something, I've been muttering about learning how to do for months, but never quite gotten around to doing.) Half an hour of muttering later, I had three images to try, and this one seemed the best. Ches added the lovely statue she got as a rez day present, and we finally are pretty happy with the way the deck looks. As with any building we do, it's provisional, and will probably change again, but, for the time being, we can dance over the ocean, without obsessing about how to improve the texture, and that's good.

~ Zha

Back to the Future (of Love)

After a few weeks of RL diversion and a bit of SL insanity Zha and I have spent time focusing on our build at Shengri La Love again. During this process I have come to a startling conclusion and that is building is easy. By that I mean moving prims around, playing with textures and using the basic SL building tools is not hard once you learn a few basic tricks. Having said that, coming up with a design concept and executing it in a creative way that has not been done by amateur builders all over the grid is damned hard. Lately I am getting the feeling our build will never be done. We will tinker and play and change this or that for a very long time, learning and building our skills as we go.

We decided we wanted to place sculpture at various places throughout the sim and add sits and cuddles to make each of these spots a place where people want to come and spend time. I have been blessed by the kindness of my friends and was gifted a few pieces of art as rez day presents, which I incorporated into the sim yesterday. The first piece is called "Mermaid" by Ando Klarr. This sculpture is perfect as the focal point of the main area and I placed it in the center of our glowy, translucent deck that juts out from the mountain over the sea below. I added transparent lighting so the area looks lovely by moonlight but for this photo I captured the purple and pink colors of the Windlight sunset. Please click the photo to see it larger. You won't be sorry. ;)


Next I rezed a copy of Starax's "Samson" down by the water. I am still contemplating how to make a comfortable seating area there. I am not sure how that is going to work out or if this is the final resting place for this amazing work, but time will tell I am sure.


We do want to have a private space in the sky and have been living in a prefab Zha had on her old land. We have been looking at prefabs and finally we concluded that to get what we want we would need to build the house ourselves. This idea is a little daunting for me as building a house seems like a huge project, but once you break it down into smaller parts its no different than building anything else I suppose. Our concept is a Japanese style home with a very contemporary edge to it. So think tatami mats with lots of glass and red lacquer accents.

What is amazing is how focused I can get when I am building. I am sure I was inadvertently rude to Zha and the friend who was with us as we worked last night. When I am thinking about how a piece should look or trying to get prims to line up right I cannot pay attention to much else. The funny thing is how fast time slips by me when I am involved in a project. I swear we started work at about 10pm and before I blinked my eyes it was 1am. Eeepp! Anyway, here are some prim litter pictures and one that may give you a sense of where we are going.

"Fool on Deck" a 3D Tarot Card Sculpture Installation by Madcow Cosmos

If you enjoy outstanding sculpture in SL you simply have to go to "Fool on Deck" which is Madcow Cosmos' vision of the Tarot deck.


From the notecard at the TP landing point:

"Madcow Cosmos was born May 23, 1978. A chef by trade he resides in the pacific northwest of the USA. Initially drawn by the simple-to-use creation tools, SL soon fulfilled his life long desire to make three dimensional virtual art. Madcow has no formal training in any 3d rendering software or other artistic skills aside from the culinary, but enjoys working with art of almost any nature at an amateur level.

The inspiration for much of his art comes from an overactive imagination and a love of fantasy and myths. When not hopelessly distracted building Madcow enjoys helping others build and petting the cats that are walking across his keyboard."

I don't know anything about the Tarot really although I do find reading the cards can be a jumping off point for self- reflection. If you read this blog you know I have a weakness for thinking about unanswerable questions and trying to understand my world. So, for that reason alone I do enjoy the various places you can experience the Tarot in SL.

This installation depicts tarot cards as sculpture. If you touch the base of each piece you get a notecard describing the card and its meaning. Each individual sculpture is detailed, imaginative and interesting. Some are beautiful, some are disturbing, some are a little confusing. Even if you have no interest in the Tarot this impressive art installation is well worth a visit. I think you will enjoy it so when you have a bit of time why don't you hit the Surl and go.


"Fool on Deck" Artist's Statement

The artists encourages you to to play on, photograph, lick, video tape, sculpt in clay, and dance nekkid about his work if that's your thing. Having had his fun building them he strongly suggests you have your fun with them in any way that doesn't bother others. The art here was created to bring some of the fun of traditional tarot cards and fortune telling into a digital world of SL without being constrained too heavily by the original imagery. Many of the traditional meanings have been lost, but many possible new meanings have also been gained, enjoy them for what they are."

Introverts and community

Blogging the way I do is inherently self-indulgent, attention seeking behavior, right? I mean I could write about my SL in a private journal and keep my photos on my hard drive instead of posting them here and on flickr. I could IM my family and say "bah I need coffee" instead of posting such insights on Twitter. And yet? I blog, flickr and twitter. I put my SL out there for the world to see. Based on this you might assume I am a gregarious party-person who is comfortable being the center of attention, which I am most decidedly not.

In fact this classic article "Caring for your Introvert" by Jonathan Rauch describes me perfectly.

• Do you know someone who needs hours alone every day? Who loves quiet conversations about feelings or ideas, and can give a dynamite presentation to a big audience, but seems awkward in groups and maladroit at small talk? Who has to be dragged to parties and then needs the rest of the day to recuperate?

In some ways I think SL is tailor made for people like me. I can be at social events and still have enough "space" so I can breathe. But, even for an introverted person who is quite comfortable alone SL can be a lonely place. The feeling of belonging and community where you feel part of something bigger than your immediate circle is not always easy to find. Occasionally I have these flashes where I think "this is my place, my time, these people mean the world to me." Last night my friends at Molaskey's Pub (with help from Zha) put together a rez day party that was a moment exactly like that.

Because I am something of a solitary creature I was absolutely sure no one would come to the party. Beyond that, my stomach was in knots knowing I would be the center of attention. And yet? I wanted my rez day to include an event of some kind. I wanted to feel that sense of community on the anniversary of the day I landed with a thud at Orientation Island. Yes. I am an introvert who blogs and someone who does not like being the center of attention who wanted a big rez day bash. I am just a jumble of complexity. What can I say?

The Molaskey's Pub crew including Chester, Apple, Nasus, Mia, Katy and Gilly hosted the rez day party in a Medieval castle they built on the beach just for the event. The awesometastic castle added a great feel to the party and served as a lovely backdrop for the gowns, suits of armor, court jester garb and other finery the crowd wore. I am deeply touched by the time and effort put into preparing for this event. The wonderful people at Molaskey's took me in when I was a confused new resident, made me feel like part of the family from the start, stuck with me through the tough times and continue to be part of the foundation of my SL. Thanks to all of you from the bottom of my heart.



Much to my surprise there was a steady stream of people and at several points during the evening it was totally impossible for me to keep up with chat and the IMs that flooded my inbox. I was completely stunned by outpouring of love and felt totally embraced by the friends who were able to come and by those who could not make it but sent heartfelt good wishes. I got gifts that shocked me because they were so unexpected and others so personal and so perfect that I cried like a child.



To top it all off Rain Viera and Grace McDunnough each played for the crowd. Rain sang the "Chestnut Rau" song in which he assured everyone that I am "not a peanut" or even a cashew. Grace sweetly played "The Queen and the Soldier" and the song that Zha and I adore "Fairy Tales." I cannot even begin to describe how honored I feel that these two talented people played at this event. (I can't begin to write "played for me" but really that is what happened.)

It is dangerous to thank people by name because the chance of someone feeling slighted is always present so I won't go there. Instead I will say there are many people who have touched my SL for good and for ill over the past year and I have taken the opportunity of my rez day to think about each and every one of you. Thank you for being you and for being in my life.

uploading sound to SL, Dizzy Banjo, SL5B art installation

randomosity

Both RL and SL have been packed with fun which has kept me from finishing the big post I have in draft and from posting a few other random ideas floating in my head this weekend. Anyway, Shenli Flasheart hosted one of her amazingly fun Raves on Saturday night and posted about it here on her blog. I mention it so you go and read about the interesting evening and so I can share this picture, which I like. (click through for a better view please)


I also want to take a moment to brag about my tree. For my rez day Zha got me the Sonsaku Tree from Lost Dog Designs. I had never seen this little masterpiece before but I sqeeeeeeed like a 6th grade girl when I did. It is a lovely sculpty tree that gently drops leaves to the ground on occasion. It comes in the standard tree-like colors you see here but you can also get colors you might not find IRL like pink. What makes this tree so much fun are the great couples poses built into the swing, some of which are good for a long discussion under the stars and others that are suited to a more intimate conversation. Anyway, the tree will be firmly planted somewhere on Shengri La Love just as soon as we decide where it belongs.


Oh and today is my actual Rez day so I want to take a moment to say thank you. Writing this blog has brought me more joy than I could have imagined. For an introvert like me to put my words out there in the big vast space of the Internet is a little scary. To find that some of you read what I write and keep coming back has been rewarding beyond measure.

Obligatory Upcoming Rez Day Reflections

The other day I had an experience that recalled my first days in SL very clearly. I was invited to log in to Twinity, a new virtual world in beta. I created my avatar, logged in to the Welcome Center and was greeted by a guy who said “The graphics here suck. Second Life is so much better.” I responded “I look like a total noob. Where is my ETD hair and the rest of my inventory?” We added each other as friends and had a good laugh. See? Avatars are moving across worlds. But that is another discussion entirely.

What struck me about my first hour in Twinity was how it recalled exactly the feelings I had during my first days in Second Life. I was a little disoriented and confused, uncomfortable with my avatar being so dang ugly, excited to wander around and see what this new world had to offer. During my first hour in SL I played with search which led me to "Popular Places" which lead me to T Online Beach which eventually led me to a psycho guy who I partnered pretty fast and who broke my heart in a million pieces even faster. All in all it was a pretty garden variety introduction to SL, don’t you think?

So, all silliness aside, what happened during my first year in SL? Well, everything and nothing at all. I listened to amazing music, danced all night, experienced art installations that brought tears to my eyes. I blogged, photographed, and built things -- all activities I could not have imagined a year ago. I developed friendships that feed my soul, met people who’s creativity has left me breathless and encountered other people who’s ability to stir up drama and conflict everywhere they go has left me speechless. I explored parts of the RL me I never knew existed and touched on other parts of me I have been unable to delve into for a variety of reasons. Its hackneyed for sure but I lived. I laughed. I loved.

I am going to end this post with simple words from the song "Fairy Tale" written by Salome Strangelove and Grace McDunnough which says,

"This world is what you make of it."

Bleeding Hearts

In my RL garden I have a several bleeding heart plants that arrive like clockwork and tumble out of the flower bed onto the path in the early spring each year. I love these perennials because the flowers are complex and perfectly delicate while the plant itself thrives with little encouragement from me. I grew the bleeding hearts from tiny roots removed from my mother's garden when I had to sell the house I lived in as a child. There is something enormously comforting about the annual return of these flowers that tie me to family and home. I think I need to plant some in Shengri La Love.

Sometimes its about a second tree

Building is about lots of things. Sometimes, its about visual clutter. Sometimes it's about a specific color, on a single prim.

Sometimes, its about a second copy of the tree. In mid chat, about other things, Ches pops out "Do you have that tree, the orange one, in copy?"

I did. Aki Shichiroji, the talented builder who makes them, sells them that way. So I pulled out a second copy. "Why?" I asked. "Because one is too eye stopping. I need a second one. I don't know where it's going, but I need two."

So now we have two. We're still not quite sure how the middle of the area we're working on is going to emerge. It's getting more defined by what isn't there, than what is, and its continuing to subtly shift as we keep putting down one thing, and taking up another. But, for the moment, it has two visualy bold orange trees.

~ Zha

Looking for something to do?

Go see Robie Bloch. She has a bluesy voice and plays a mix of her own songs and interesting covers. I can't believe I never heard her before today but I fully intend to see her again soon.



Upcoming gigs

BLUE PASSION June 9 @ 1pm
BELLAGIO June 11 @ 2pm
WOODSTOCK June 13 @ 12noon
STONEHENGE June 14 @ 3pm
STARDUST June 16 @ 1pm
CRYSTAL SANDS June 18 @ 4pm
MUSIC PARK June 22 @ 4pm
BLUE PASSION June 23 @ 1pm
CRYSTAL SANDS June 25 @ 4pm
STARDUST June 30 @ 1pm
GLASS EARTH July 6,20 @ 2pm

Emvee Cuba

You probably have seen photos from Emvee Cuba by now, a fabulous sim created by Metaversatility. This group also created a bunch of other builds you may be familiar with including those listed on a wall in Cuba as depicted here. Click through if you want to see more detail.


Cuba is lush, beautifully executed and tailor made for photography. The textures have incredible depth and the the light is soft and amber in tone, making avatars fairly glow. See what I mean? (click for larger or go to flickr where I played with them in picnk a bit)





As I walked around I saw these small objects oddly placed all over the build. After zooming in on them I noticed they looked like those disposable cameras you can buy when you accidentally leave your camera at home. I had no idea what they were so I did what comes naturally -- I touched the camera. Nothing. So what is next? You sit on it of course. What do you know? The cameras are poses ready made for your photography pleasure. See?






Here are a few pictures using Emvee Cuba's ready made photo ops:







Cuba is a lovely build. For me, I prefer photographing a build as I see it rather than using the prepackaged poses. Having said that you can easily grab some sweet photos at Cuba so have a look around and see what you think.