Category: Magazine

In a series of vendor previews — twice a day — leading up to the FOCUS Photo Fair starting on February 11th, today … a store for people wanting quality wedding-related poses.

If you’re a couple thinking of tying the knot in SL, otherwise known as ‘getting married,’ The Elephant Tree offers several different wedding related poses: ‘Team Bride’ pose; ‘Team Groom’ pose (which is kinda funny); ‘Will you?’ pose; ‘Wedding Prayer’ pose, ‘Look at this’ pose, and ‘Just Married’ pose. You can create your wedding album of That Special Day — and it’s very affordable. Also, during Photo Fair, everything’s 20% off

Also at FOCUS Photo Fair starting on February 11th. And yes, you have seen these guys before. Advice: Don’t be seen having long, serious conversations with mannequins; friends tend to find that upsetting.

“If you’ve ever talked to a mannequin so real you mistook him or her for a real avatar, you may well have been speaking to one of Salmagundi’s hyper-realistic ‘people’ (or animals!)  Don’t worry, lots of folks talk to animals!  Since a picture is worth a thousand words and since you can walk around inside Salmagundi’s booth amid these people, here’s some advice: ‘Don’t stand there too long, or someone might try to purchase you!’ (Oh, btw, don’t miss the mummies or the mutant hunter!) These 3D mannequins are perfect when you want some people in your photographs, and your friends keep coming up with excuses.“

We’re continuing a series of images and text to show you what vendors will have for your photo needs and wants at the FOCUS Photo Fair starting on February 11th. Think of this as “window shopping”, ok?

And here is SLDomina Photo Studio…

“If you want a choice of small photo studio “boxes” able to provide versatile wrap-around backdrops for selfies or portraits, you might like to look at SLDomina’s Photo Studio line.  They offer a lot of wallpapers, colors — and a variety of poses.  Put someone ‘in the box,’ and the photo studios provide the rest.  Step into SLDomina’s demo box at their booth and play with it if you want to try out the product.  They also have a variety of frames useful for your selfies too!“

Though the Photo Fair will not begin until February 11th, we are showing you a buffet of images and text to show you what vendors will have for your photo needs and wants.

Today, the first of 22 vendors we will preview — FAC Creations.

“If you want to control the lighting of an avatar while freezing it in place on a pose stand, Shadow Lights Studio has two apps you’ll find handy: Shadow Lights 2.0 and Body Lights 2.0. Do you want projectors? SL2 has them, as well as shadow controls. You want pose controls and control over EEP (successor to Windlights), BL2 has that. Questions? Just stop on by Shadow Lights Studio, and they’ll fill you in on more!”

The theme of our photo fair will be “For The Love of Photography”. It will run from Friday, February 11 until Friday, February 25th and will feature live music as well as over 50 vendors offering everything from backdrops to poses to statuary to … well, imagine it and someone will most likely be selling it.

Now, vendors are setting up their booths, so you’ll have to wait — but we’ll be giving you sneak previews of just some of what’s coming on this blog starting February 1st. Twice a day, 22 vendors. So check back here on this blog and satisfy your curiosity until February 11th.

Want more details? Not a problem. We’ll keep the pipeline open.

Sunday’s class will be “Phototools and Depth of Field”. If you’ve ever been confused by this part of your Phototools’ DoF/Glow tab (Alt-P), you’ll learn how to make that “blurry background” and more! Definitely a must-do for photography! And if you’ve never heard of an f-stop or have heard of it and have no clue what it’s good for? Come learn!

The class will begin at Noon SLT, Sunday, January 30th.

The music begins at 6 pm SLT with Grace Loudon and continues at 7 pm SLT with Emely MO Sable.

Also, winners of the January Photo Contest will be announced. This month the many entries are all monochrome in line with the theme: Ansel Adams, renowned American black-and-white photographer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ansel_Adams

Grace Loudon, a Second Life veteran, is a musician, singer, and songwriter. She is famous for her acoustic guitar backed by a voice that works with pop, soft rock classic rock, and county. No wonder she has a successful music career outside of Second Life! Whether you like Bill Wither’s ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ or Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” or everything in between, she’s impressive.

Emely MO (former stage name Extremely — from Extr-Emely) is a Southern girl from the Carolinas. She has sung with several bands and now brings her passion for music to FOCUS for a second hour on Friday. She’s amazing.

If you haven’t visited the Exploratorium of Art recently, it has expanded. (We recently opened a 6rh floor!) Among the latest additions: photos and art by Sevant Anatra, Jeremy Woods, Melanie, Scylla Riandra, Serena Marabana, Syn Huntress, Wren Carling, and Rule Binder. (Coming soon works by Lord Voxel).

The easiest way to the Exploratorium is to just go to one of our FOCUS kiosks, touch ‘Exploratorium of Art’, and — zoom — there you are!

FLy Kugin is teaching “The Art of Music” Workshop at the Focus Learning Center at 11AM SLT, Sunday, Jan 23rd. Yes, in a few hours!

Her talk will examine music and its effect on the human brain. Fly is supremely qualified for this since she is a professional musician and music teacher in Istanbul, Turkey. You won’t want to miss her class!

If you want to submit an entry to the monthly FOCUS Photo Contest, the deadline is January 26th. If you’ve never heard of Ansel Adams or wondered why anyone would want to do photography in black and white, here’s one of Adam’s photographs.

Nothing shot here in Second Life can approach this kind of work, but … “nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Besides, if you don’t like what you shoot, that lets you start looking hard and trying to figure out why.

And here are some tips for making your SL black-and-white images look good: https://www.photocrowd.com/blog/197-how-shoot-ansel-adams/

Drop your entry in the fire-engine red mailbox in front of the FOCUS Welcome Center — and don’t forget to make your submissions ‘full permission’.

Not to be insultingly obvious, let this picture be your guide. We thought of keeping this image in theme — making this image black and white — but since the mailbox is red that didn’t seem very smart.