On shops and photography

Funny thing about Second Life is that a lot of the times you'll find some of the cutest or most thoughtful scenery just outside regular old stores as opposed to somewhere glamorous like the fantasy section of the Destination Guide.

...And then you realize that the Destination Guide also has a good amount of storefronts and the like. And just why is that? Well, it's mostly because store owners tend to not like leaving their land bare, I find. 

 Little details, lighting, and accessories make up whether someone should stop and wait for the prims to load or whether they should hurry on their way and get about their day. Is there a place to rest while browsing the store or are you just going to let your character stand around staring at nothing? Someplace interesting where you can try a few poses or outfits, perhaps? Or even in a store like *. emm { shop } & [ scribbled . hearts ] where the merchandise is skyboxes and homes, they seem to have filled just enough to make things interesting enough for people to not just come take a look at their products, but also to check out the scenery.

 What's so interesting about it, though? Oh, nothing. Just high quality textures and great attention to detail as opposed to numerous prims and whatnots. Everything here matches in its rustic look, and that's something not easy to pull off. Second Life has great places and great creativity, but there's a need for matching decor fashion sense to make everything just come together. And when you're a seller on Second Life, you probably already have that decor sense of style you want to go for. Something simple to cut down on prim count, but what can sprawl over the shop and make it interesting for people to wait, or for people to come in at all?

 While I was taking pictures around here, there were several other people standing around the shop in modeling poses... no AOs! Actual poses for me to know that they were taking pictures as well. Why outside a simple store and not outside, say, a photogenic hotspot specifically selected by the Lindens? I've been to those places, of course, and while they're pretty, it doesn't seem to fall together in the way that most small shops tend to. It's not that they try too hard, except... it really kind of is. Sometimes what you want is a homier look, and for those who like furniture shopping around the game as much as I do, they'll know that it's not easy to go for specific looks without spending a very large fortune. Great thing a lot of shops tend to make their own items, isn't it?

 Let's not forget the ambiance! Sometimes when it comes to photography, it's not the amount of pretty things you want in the background, but the simplest things-- mostly because you don't want a million items behind you to distract you from the actual picture... of you and loved ones, or perhaps of the mood you're trying to convey. Friends talking to each other or sitting around with each other... you can get that calm and serene picture if there are flashing lights everywhere behind you.

Autumn pictures, I find, are the best to take when you set the world to sunset. Then it's a bright, warm glow turning everything golden and dusk, reflecting off the red of leaves and the drying yellow grass. There's a certain calmness reflected in that light that can't really be captured for midday or midnight... when most people want pictures, because it reflects an avatar the very best.

Shamera is wearing:
Tank top -- Utilizator (not free)
Overshirt -- NiNight Creations (Group gift)
Jeans -- R.icielli Anna Mesh Jeans (Halloween Hunt)
Boots -- *COCO* (Group Gift)



One more thing! Avatar of the day... week... month... um, or just someone I thought looked extremely interesting with their Avatar 2.0! (So I've never done this before, but maybe I'll do more as more catches my attention?) Shoutouts go to Alice (aliceann.alter) for her gorgeously simple hetero-chromatic avatar. Isn't she pretty? I'll be doing a post all about Alice in a little while since I happened to run into her yesterday and I just had to tell her how impressed I was with her sense of fashion. Dual coloured anything is something I appreciate a lot, mostly because it's nothing something you can just decide to recolour, but actually have to pull out the textures for most of the time... or at least, that's how it is to me. It could be different for people who are very good at this kind of thing, though!

Still, shout-outs go to Alice for being super nice and patient and allowing her picture to be taken and put up on this blog~