Welcome to 2009

I'm going to try to do better. Really!

I am planning on creating a short series of tutorials to give insight into the lighting tools in SL, that will help you make better pictures. I will publish them here.

Here is a picture I took, using only Second Life lighting. This is a raw picture with no post-processing at all.

Over the next week or two, I will publish tutorials to introduce you to various lighting techniques using light sources, the SL sun, and the environment editor. Hopefully, it will help you create the best possible pictures.

Dear Cannery Artists

Earlier this week, I wrote a letter to all the artists of the Cannery show "A Different Light". The show was a success in terms of the quality of the art there, and if the art is still up, you should take a look at it. It was a failure in my efforts to get events happening there, get people more involved, etc.

There is currently an event planned for mid-month ... a party, an award ceremony. My friend Vint Falken is planning it. I will attend and help to give out awards, if there are any.

However, my association as curator has ended with Rezzable. My resignation was effective March 31st. I hope to participate in future shows as an artist, but not in a position of responsibility there.

My attentions are now with Avatrait, where I am a member of the Board. I did not have the attention to deal with both. Avatrait is actively seeking talented SL artists. I'll post more about this later.

Best regards to all of you, my friends. I am very glad I had the opportunity to help some of you get your work shown.

We're in February already?

I recently did a photoshoot with Emma and Talin, which came out wonderfully. But the best picture I took didn't show itself until I cropped it severely for a PG forum. :)))

I've been busy with the Cannery. We had two contests. The first was quite successful, but I didn't advertise the second one well enough and we got very few entries. I need to work on promotion. Not sure how to do that.

Speaking of which, a friend of mine has offered to help me with promotion. I'm hoping we can do something. I feel as though I am really on the edge of doing some good-to-great work ... it would be nice to be recognized for it. (You guys who are reading this, you are all my friends, so you would say nice things, anyway. I love you for it, honest!)

I'm on the Board of Avatrait . They are putting together a cool website where you can upload your work, have comments on it, get prints, etc. It is intended to be like flickr, but specializing in Second Life. I look forward to seeing the website in full bloom.

And if you haven't been to Kimberly Mirabeau's gallery showing at Avatrait's gallery, you are missing a wonderful show. Many of her works sold the very first day. Come see and appreciate them! They are phenomenal!

A Different Light - Opened!

Jaid at the opening of "A Different Light"

Wow, what an adrenalin rush. I love show openings.

Yesterday, at the Cannery Gallery, Vint Falken and I opened a new show called "A Different Light". What you will see there is but a fraction of the awesome art that was submitted. We wanted to show you a different view of Second Life.

Imagine that the world is a rabbit. A Great Magician pulls the rabbit out of a hat now and then, and the rabbit sees the world. Now, imagine you are a flea on the rabbit. You live in the deepest part of the hairs of the rabbit, close to the skin where it is warm. You don't need to see the universe that is beyond the rabbit, that you can never reach and have no interest in. It is comfortable where you are.

Now, imagine that you are an adventurous flea. You want to see the universe on those rare occasions when the Magician pulls the rabbit out of the hat. You climb up the rabbit hairs and wait there, poised, waiting for a bit of the universe to be revealed to you. *

The concept behind the show is this: There are many different types of people in Second Life. Some people are into being "furry" or mechs; some are into re-experiencing their childhood; some are into slavery; some are into making new friends. Do I want to do some of those things, experience what it is like to be adored or spurned because of my appearance? No. I have a lovely avatar for a reason. However, imagine what it would be like to be a child again .... you see a firefly for the 10th time and you are filled with wonder. It is at that moment that you see the universe that the Great Magician is presenting for us.

So, take off your comfortable skin and come wander down the paths. Come see the universe through someone else's eyes.

-----
* Note: Special thanks to Jostein Gaarder for his outstanding book of juvenile fiction: Sophie's World, originally published in Norwegian in 1991.

Cannery gets ready for next show

This is going to be an AWESOME show!

As you may know, Vint Falken and I are the curators for a Second Life photography art show called "A Different Light". We've been accepting submissions for a few weeks, and last night we went through the submissions. So many people submitted such outstanding work, it made it VERY difficult to decide. It took us hours longer than I expected. In the end, we chose 10 pictures for each theme, and 10 pictures from each featured artists.

The featured artists are:

• Andromega Volare
• Isolde Flamand
• Kimberly Mirabeau
• Marianne McCann
• Mylena Aquitaine

The artists participating in the themes are:

• Codebastard Redgrave
• GM Nikolaidis
• Jazss Saiman
• Kim Dench
• Loki Popinjay
• Luna Zolnir
• Raul Crimson
• Ryker Beck
• Shoshana Epsilon
• Stephen Venkman
• Vint Falken

I can't tell you which pieces were chosen. You'll have to come to the show to see them. But, with a list like this, it's going to be a show to remember!

My First Blog Post

Many friends have suggested that I start a blog. Why, I ask? Who cares what I think? I don't know ... perhaps someone wants to know what I'm thinking. If no one reads it, no one will be harmed by it.

I am heavily involved in Second Life. If you haven't been there, you should check it out: This is NOT a game. If you want to "win" something, you will be sadly disappointed. (Games *do* exist there, but the world itself if not a game.) Second Life is an awesome world where you can be creative and see things you never could have seen in Real Life (abbreviated RL by afficiandos).

In Second Life (SL), I have many activities. Primarily, I am a Mentor, a photographer, and a curator. As time goes on, I'll discuss these activities in more detail. Suffice it to say that I am happily occupied all the time there.

That's all I'll write for now. Thank you!

-- Shoshana