I visited ‘Raion No Su‘, today…

… this is a fairly eclectic sim, mixing all kinds of themes…

… but the result is quite pleasing…

… although it’s all packed closely together…

… by taking your time…

… and choosing your angles…

… you can isolate many great scenes…

… for photography (:

I visited ‘The Pond‘, last evening. The setting is simple and pretty, as though you have stepped into a children’s book…

… the waters of the pond are beautiful…

… with many aquatic creatures cruising about beneath its surface…

… I circumnavigated the pond. I met many friendly beasties along the way…

… and the zen-like simplicity of the natural environs is very soothing…

… like a lost summer from a Pink Floyd song…

… even though the theme here seems to be the enlargement of small things, it wasn’t till I saw this lost baseball that I suddenly felt like I was a character in ‘Land of the Giants’…

… but there were no evil, alternative universe scientists, just friendly little critters made big…

… I particularly liked all the big bugs…

… but also really enjoyed that ‘lost-summer-by-the-water’ feeling I got from the place.

I set up a new exhibition, today…

… it’s called ‘RL Stuff‘…

… it’s composed of mostly organic, but some found ‘hard’ landscape images…

… its intention is to prove that ‘RL can be pretty, too’…

… it’s all RL images…

… that have been mildly manipulated in gorgeous Photoshop CS5 (:

When you arrive at the Salt Water landing point, you arrive in an extremely energetic downpour… more of a meteor shower, than rain…

… once you get off the platform you landed on, the intensity of the downpour eases…

… eventually you walk out of it, into the purple dusk. I’m not sure if this is the constant wind light here, or if I just arrived at dusk…

… but it was pretty…

… and made for some nice shots.

When you visit ‘The Forgotten‘, you land in this magical swamp. It’s a no-fly build, so you have to follow the various walkways and fallen trees, to get around… be careful, you can fall off a tree and get stuck inside a rock (well, I did, anyway…) luckily, it’s one of those builds where, if you double click somewhere, you don’t get sent back to the landing area as punishment…

… the swamp is quite big and there’s lots to see, here, but it is, by no means, all there is to see! You need to find the pergola, with the arrows along it’s side, which will lead you…

… to an entirely different landscape…

… quite a big one, too, though every bit as magical as the swamp area…

… there is also plenty of wonderful stuff to discover here, too…

… I was really impressed with this build… the word ‘magnificent’ kept coming to mind, so I thought I would use it (back there)…

… I particularly liked this area… it put me in mind of the ‘barrow downs’, from the book, Lord of the Rings and, because it did, Bo Hansson’s ‘Fog on the Barrow Downs’ began playing in my head, because that is imbedded in the human’s mind, from reading the book and listening to that record as a teenager…

… but, I digress…

… there are wolves in Hansson’s music, too (:

I visited ‘Colours of India‘, last evening. My initial impression of the windlight was that it was quite sombre, but I soon realised that it was actually very pretty, designed to enhance the subtle, smoky hues of the whole build…

… which has a lovely, muted pastel palette…

… there are plenty of wonderful scenes, here, for photography…

… lots of interesting shapes and textures, especially in the little streets between the buildings…

… I actually spent quite a bit of time here, running out of time the first time, and having to come back that evening, but I wanted to find all the best little scenes…

… and, of course, I can’t post them all, but there are lots of beautiful little settings, here, for really interesting photographic backdrops…

… while I was here the second time, one of the creators, Vicki Absinthe, said hello to me, and we had a little chat. She told me this was her and her partners first build. I’ll be very interested to see what they create next, because they’ve done an excellent job, here, creating something that is refreshingly different to most SL destinations, as well as being just very pretty…

… the build isn’t huge…

… but it is rich in exotic detail. I found the dusky pink sky quite gorgeous, and an excellent counterpoint to the various textures and colours of the buildings…

… there are interior spaces to explore, too…

… this destination is well worth a visit (:

I visited ‘Longing Melody‘, this evening. There is a ton of cuteness at the landing point… almost too much, really, you literally have to wade through every cute cat and bunny and hybrid cutie you’ve ever seen in SL, to get to the better parts, which are beautifully photogenic…

… I particularly enjoyed this over-grown glass house…

… which I found wonderfully evocative of decayed dynasty…

… the mansion outside instantly made me think of ‘War of the Worlds’, with it’s red creeper everywhere…

… I didn’t pay enough attention to notice if this is the front of the red-creeper building, but this face hadn’t experienced a Martian invasion and was just pretty…

… there was an extremely dodgy swing bridge over some roaring falls…

… some enchanted steps with little magical motes…

… and… well, I couldn’t come here and not take at least one cute picture (:

Every time I wake in SL, it’s in this room… my bedroom…

… this is my absolute ‘safe place’ in SL, sadly, even this place has been violated by creeps, but, mostly, it’s where I feel totally safe, protected by clever security. This is where all my sweetest and most meaningful objects are. Once I’m ready to venture out, I’ll perhaps…

… go exploring/shopping! In this case, Fantasy Faire! I’m slowly working my way through the HUD addresses. As you can see, I’ve bought stuff, the cute ‘tiara’ I’m wearing, for starters…

… between visits to the Faire, I come home and set out my goodies, so they don’t get lost in my inventory. Here, I’ve just set out this super-cute Fae sitting on a toadstool. She was made by my friend Adelina (: …

… I also bought these gorgeous ladybugs…

… I ended my day sitting in a corner of my lovely land…

… one of the oldest parts of my home, another place I feel pretty safe.

It’s three and a half years since I last visited ‘Lutz City‘…

… Lutz City contains many stages, large and small…

… everything here is slightly decayed…

… as though the place is somehow lost in time…

… what was once grand and magnificent…

… is now covered with the patina of seasonal dissolution…

… the time of it’s grandeur now lost in the mists of memory…

… the whole place has the feel of stalled time, like waiting, or what comes after waiting…

… when you realise that no-one, not even you…

… remembers just what it is you are waiting for, anymore.

I visited La Petite Provence, last evening. You land in the village square, which is pretty bland, but don’t let that disappoint you, just head for the beach area…

… where you will find much more photogenic scenery…

… which, of course, is always my main interest…

… there is plenty of rich material…

… for dynamic angles with interesting shapes and colours…

… I spent about an hour here…

… there’s much more to see than just the village area…

… plenty of wonderful backdrops for photography…

… well worth the effort to explore…

… and all very pretty.