The Art of SL Photography

When I was in college, like 100 years ago, my photography teacher told me that all of my photographs looked the same.  I was annoyed at the time, because I really liked photography, but over the years I've come to understand that she was right.  My pictures do tend to all have the same composition, no matter what I'm shooting.  For me, the person in the picture (because I like pictures of people more than scenery or objects most of the time) and their expression is what's most important, and my composition tends to be an afterthought.  As a bad photographer, I'm ok with that.

But, as a writer, I'm all about composition.  It's not just about expression or emotion or plot or whatever, it's about how all of those things combine into the perfect whole.  So why is my photography so limited?

I want to open this up to you guys.  What do you think about when composing a photo, whether in SL or RL?  What are you trying to capture?  What's your intention and do you feel satisfied that the finished product reflects that?

At the top, my latest photo, just to share.

Details: 
Skin: Nylon Outfitters
Hair: Armidi
Coat: Refuge
Shirt: Armidi
Skirt: Armidi
Socks: Maitreya
Shoes: Pornstars
Nails: Bijou 
Necklace: Shiny Things

The End of the World as We Know It...

Well, considering my RL town is being innundated with floodwater as I type this, I thought I'd dress up and take some underwater pictures in SL.  Let's pretend that RL is just like SL, and I can breathe and live just as easily in 40 feet of water as I can in zero feet of water.  Can someone send me a boat, please?

A number of bloggers have mentioned this shirt from Aoharu lately, but I had to wear it because the sleeves are awesome in their puffiness.  And the pants are in my top five all-time favorite pants in SL because they're wide leg and go with everything.  Perhaps this is not the best outfit to wear while doing my civic duty and shoveling sand into plastic bags to protect the university library and, oh you know, the rest of town, but one needn't be underdressed to be a model citizen.  Accessorize, people! Your government will thank you.

What I'm Wearing:
Shirt: Aoharu
Pants: Frozen Turquoise Valentine
Shoes: Armidi
Hair: Celestial Studios
Skin: Nylon Outiftters
Bracelet: Shiny Things
Gloves: Sn@tch
Glasses: Last Call

Introducing Flanner March

For some reason, Dot has very graciously opened up her blog to a new guest poster: me! I'm 95% certain she'll come to regret it, but until then, I thought I'd introduce myself to her lovely readers.

I've been in SL since late 2006 and have absolutely no skills beyond dressing myself and decorating my house. If you don't believe me, I made a hideous, monstrous couch-like thing I'd be willing to show you. I'm interested in things that are a little out of the ordinary, that are unique and well-made. My style (and my hair color) changes with my mood, and I'm constantly in search of that perfect piece. I also love unique poses - I like the poses in my photographs to be slightly awkward, slightly wrong.

(OMG there's a commercial on right now for a show about puppy weddings. Is that not the sickest thing you've ever heard?)

I have a blog that I never update and a small but growing collection of photographs on Flickr. I'm looking forward to meeting you all and seeing what I can contribute to this awesome blog.

Flanner March

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I'm so thrilled Flanner has agreed to be an occasional contributor (and by occasional I mean I hope she posts as often as she can): she's here because she has a wonderful sense of style and a point of view I wanted more people to read. I met her months ago, and was immediately struck by her name, influenced as it is by the idea of the flaneur, and our first conversation revealed her to be intellectually stimulating in addition to her cute-as-a-buttoness. I'm glad she's here, and we look forward to presenting more of our wanderings to you in coming months.

Dot Lane