If you’re a photographer living in Second Life, you know there are pose makers galore. We hunt for new poses and props and beg pose makers to make just the perfect pose. Photographers love nothing more than supporting our pose makers and we love to find new ones.

Sounds like a happy, copacetic arrangement no?

NO.

There is a dark side of the pose makers in SL.  Really (said oh so innocently without the least bit of sarcasm).  I have this bridge in Brooklyn…oh wait, I was talking about pose makers.  *facepalm*

Recently, through the grapevine, I heard about one pose maker being really unprofessional and somewhat nasty about another pose maker’s poses. While I understand that vendors would like to keep their work protected, as they should, at a certain point, it becomes ridiculous.  See, there are only so many ways a human body can pose, even if that body is a contortionist.  Basic anatomy people!

Eventually, you’re gonna run out of poses.

One thousand pose makers in SL (more/less, who knows) are going to eventually make a pose that is somewhat like someone else’s.  It’s hard not to.  Where do pose makers get their inspiration?  Well, model poses might come from fashion magazines, celebrity rags, television, awards shows; they are ripped from real life.  A pose maker might see a friend standing a certain way in RL and remember it for later.  Maybe they have one of those little dolls my animator friends have, and will bend it to replicate it, then work on their pose.

There are countless ways pose makers work, and while I am sure there is the odd smarmy duck that just wants to steal other’s work, for the most part coincidences just happen.  Pose makers take pride in their work, struggle for hours to get it just right and make it look as natural as possible.  Some of them dream poses; others sit and think for hours wondering what to do and how to do it.  They spend an inordinate amount of time discounting this pose and that one because THEY DON’T WANT TO COPY ANYONE.

Here’s a puzzle for you, dear readers. How do you sit a child on your lap?  How many possible variations of that can there possibly be?  Right?  It’s universal.  You pick a kid up, set them on your lap and sit.  Not much room for creativity there – its basic, just like holding a baby.  So ten other pose makers have done a pose with a child sitting in a lap?  Did they copy it?  No.  It’s just the only way people sit with kids in their lap.  In the pose maker’s effort to make it look real, natural, normal – they’ve inadvertently made it just like the ten other pose makers down the SL road.  The textures are different, the models are different, skins, hair, expressions are different but the pose appears to be the same.  Time for a DCMA report?  Hardly.

I realize I’m not a pose maker, just someone who buys more poses than most people do.  I am one of their biggest supporters (seriously, ask my friends).  I buy poses like the world is going to end tomorrow and I have to have them all.  I have three pose ladders; two safes; five school rooms; two padded rooms; 18 poseable moons; countless poses that look oddly alike.  There are currently 127 pose stands in my pL3 studio system, and that’s not counting the crap I’ve yet to put away.  I have a prop room with 20 Visual Wardrobes, each filled with props and poses.  I shop all over the grid.  I have my favorites like VMS (love you Mykala!); Ooo Studios, Magnifique, Glitterati, Essential Soul, Lost Angel, Behavior Body, Just A Pose, Olive Juice, Picture Me Pretty, the list goes on and on.  I’m always so excited when someone in one of my groups mentions a new pose maker; and I’m not the only one…

Get it yet? We pose whores buy poses, we don’t care if they look somewhat alike. Stop the madness, stop the fighting and for God’s sake will someone build me that damned looking out the airplane window prop I need for my poetry book dammit?  I also need stabby things to poke a bull for a bullfighting pose I’m getting. If you all spent more time making poses for me, oh, and the other pose whores, and less time infighting over stupid and frankly, boring and overdone poses, I’d be a happy camper.

Love you,

mari

Proposers Expo-”When Love meets open arms”

PROPOSERS SIM – Animators and po, Proposers (127, 125, 23)

11th – 25th February 2012

Visit this expo to discover the latest animations, poses and photo accessories made by top designers to help your photos look as good as the experts! Showcasing the latest gadgets, animations and systems, plus parties and photography exhibits to help raise money for the Autism Society of America, this expo is not to be missed!

More than an Expo-Why?

Samara Pennell, from Proposers says:

“Proposers are a group for photography, pose and animation lovers.  We wanted to open the New Year with a different event rather than our famous Hunt. Sitting on the couch and watching the snow falling, and the Holidays fast approaching, I thought it was the right time to have fun again and HELP for a GOOD CAUSE. I have had the great honor and opportunity to get in touch with the ASA (Autism Society of America). Autism is a great deal nowadays, that appears in early childhood, usually before age 3. All autism disorders affect a child’s ability to communicate and interact with others. December 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued their ADDM autism prevalence report. The report concluded that the prevalence of autism had risen to 1 in every 110 births in the United States and almost 1 in 70 boys.”

Our Mission

We came out with the idea to have an EXPO where part of the sales will be donated directly to the ASA.

Donation Kiosks will be placed on the sim too. Documents and/or proof of RL Donation will be shared with the Proposers Group after the end of the event.

*REQUIRED DONATION
—> 1 Item with 100% of sales donated must be offered and original to the event.<—

*OTHER CONTRIBUTORS AND AUCTIONS:
Other Photography artists, creators or VIP’s will join to give a contribution in this project.
Update= Auctions will be set and here some of their names:

***Photography service AUCTIONS (using auction boards):

Skip Staheli
Strawberry Singh
Cala Rossini
SennaSpirit Coronet

*** Modeling AUCTION (using auction boards):

Anna Sapphire – Miss Virtual World 2012

Auction 1: Private makeover of avatar + styling session of 2 hours

Auction 2: Appointment, evening out with MVW (3 hours of fun)

Auction 3: 2 Private modeling lessons with MVW (4 hours)

***VIP LIVE AUCTION on Feb 25th

Frolic Mills is making a fabulous female avatar to be auctioned off to benefit autism. He says: “The great thing is that she could be a top model, a chic fashionista, an elegant business woman or a hooker all the same. She comes with a brand mew one of a kind skin, a brand new fab dress by Gizza and 1 hour styling session with me to finish customizing to your taste!”

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Sponsors:

FANTASYLAND ESTATES

Avenue Magazine                    Moolto Magazine & Social Network
BeStyle Magazine                         My Face pool Social Network
The BEST OF SL Magazine                                   Oh Boi Magazine
BOSL Radio                             Royal living LifestyleMagazine
Glance Magazine                                     Scruplz Magazine
Explore Magazine               SecondnightsMagazine & Social Network
Icon Magazine                               Supermodel Inc. Magazine
Imagine Magazine                                   Too Sexy Magazine
Levity Magazine                                      XPoser AD system
Maniera Magazine

More Information, please contact:

Pollux Baxton
Samara Pennell

I’ve been to the Macbeth sim/installation a few times and always meant to do some photos there.  The other day, I finally did.  I had been trying on clothes while sorting my inventory (never-ending) and this dress from Kastle Rock Couture (yes, still unpacking.  Don’t judge me) that I got in the Twisted Hunt was stunning and I wanted to do photos in it, but where?  I remembered the Macbeth sim and tp’d over to check it out.  I ended up taking over 70 shots (about 40 useable ones) there at different angles and poses because that place is just so cool.

The words in the photos are not a backdrop or Photoshopped, they are from certain sections of the sim.  There’s some kind of cool particle emitter that spews out words from the play.  I kept playing with the camera to as different words appeared on my screen and some went quite well with the poses.

All the poses I used were from Del May.  They seemed to fit the insane feel (remember, Macbeth is about a real nutjob) of the place.  It seemed my avatar was being driven mad, even her eyes went wacky in some of the shots and I left them because they fit the crazy look I wanted. The windlight setting I used was Abracadabra.

1st two poses – Del May – Insane
Crouching on balcony- Del May – Wary
Standing on balcony – Del May Sigh
different angles.

In the words: Del May – Envious
Del May  – Toro
Del May – Ear Muffled

Top Balcony
Del May Temporary

The Way to a Dusty Death:
Del May Weeping Ninja

Sleep no more
DelMay Broken Trapeze

All our yesterdays
DelMay Love the Wall

Ghost
DelMay – Self Grope

Outfit:
Sintimacy Rocking Lowrise Bracelets
KR: Heatwave 2 Gown – Twisted Sister
CB Skull Flower Tattoo
Azurite Earrings w/Azurite Malachite
Shoes Stiletto Moody Bare Lana
Eyes Mad Designs: Memory

*If you end up visiting the Macbeth sim at Foul Whisperings, Strange Matters to take pictures, please tag your photos virtualmacbeth so that the creators of the sim can find your work.  There’s a Virtual Macbeth Flickr group as well.

When I saw Curio’s new skin for Halloween, I knew I had to have it.  Normally, I don’t wear Curio skins because they don’t fit me as a Latina, but I buy them and keep them in inventory for different shots or if I want a completely different look  This one, I knew I wanted the Nebula one and I wanted to do an alien shoot.

Without question, the poses I went for were from Del May.  Those poses always are unusual and fun to work with.  I ended up using three of them.  Karma #1, Coppella #2 and Resigned.  They gave an ethereal, floaty feel to my alien that meshed well.  For lighting, I used Lumipro in a butterfly configuration.  I very deliberately didn’t use the liquify tool in Photoshop because I thought the rough edges on my alien make it look that much more strange and different.

One of the things I love about SL is the way creativity flourishes.  In my RL, I am a writer and poet so it was a natural for me to mix that with my SL photography obsession.  I find it gives an incredible depth to poems and storytelling much in the way illustrations do.

Currently, I am working on a book in SL of poems and images and it’s been a great challenge to find poses and props that will produce an image to go with the poetry I intend to include in that book.

Prop and posemakers, my hat is off to you because I have been able to find some pretty wonderful things that have given my poetry an extra layer it doesn’t have in RL.  I’ll be including the poems from the book and the images that fit it once in awhile. Here’s the first of the series here, though not necessarily the first in the book.

Three a.m. in L.A.

sometimes
you can hear roosters
and you think
“why? it’s the city.”
then you just
wanna
kill the rooster
so you can sleep
because its sound
is so alien
that
it gnaws at you,
pecking at your soul.

the traffic
planes
the occasional helicopter
or a siren
the summer wind
an eager mourning dove
cooing before dawn
are normal sounds
in L.A.
like the swish
of rubber tire against
a rainy and pot-holed road

but a rooster
is not

Three a.m. in L.A.
is a time for reflection
of the words
that come tumbling
out of your head
bursting through
like Athena’s unusual
birth
springing from the head
of Zeus
fully armed for battle.

it is time
for going back to sleep
once the words
are safely
on paper

drifting off
to the soothing
lullaby
of traffic
planes
the occasional helicopter
or a siren
the summer wind
an eager mourning dove
cooing before the dawn.

May 2010 sometime round 3:00 a.m.

Background – Hollywood Blvd. on a rainy night (RL photo by me)

Bed – Glitterati

Bunny slippers – CDC

Hair curlers – N-Joy

Ladies and Gentlemen – I present round one of WTF Files.

Um

Krisyka Bellic got really pissed about her cigarette break the other night and just up and killed Mari.  Tsk, tsk.

Prop: Glitterati’s Gurney

Suicide Street Pizza pose w/blood

Blacklace Naughty Nurse lingerie

Blacklace Black lace and satin cocktail dress

I once knew this avatar named Fin. One day she wore this dress and as she was turning, I just snapped it. Something about the flow of it caught my eye. In photoshop, I turned it in on itself to make almost a butterfly, then added her face.

I loved the look, almost abstract, kinda modern.

This is a shot I took of a tree at Artfox Daviaux’s beautiful tribute sim to the movie Avatar, Sanctuary Eiwa. There was no post processing. This was taken with the SL camera in midday sky setting.

Taken using the SL camera at Japan Tempura Island looking up as part of a color study. No touch ups, no post processing. Simple midday light. No Windlight settings.