Koinup Cream of the Crop - Contests contests everywhere....

The end of December marked not only the end of the year but a few Koinup contests wrapped up as well. First up was the Winter Fell Photo Contest I blogged about at the beginning of the month. 153 members submitted 113 entries for the judges review and oh my were they stellar. I wouldn't have wanted to have to choose.

Photo by: Rudyn Carter

The above piece is the first place winner, Rudyn Carter with her photo of Winterfell Amaranthine. Second place went to Blondie Uriza and third was KoroCarnell. Click the names to view 2nd and 3rd place winners and view entire collection here: Winter Fell Photo Contest.

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Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Winter Fell Photo Contest

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere it's that wonderful time of year again....winter. This week on Koinup's Cream of the Crop I want to announce a newly create group that is having a wonderful winter contest - Winter Fell Photo Contest.

Winter Fell Photo Contest Rules

In order to take part in the competition you will need to do the following:

- Join the Winter Fell Photo Contest Group on Koinup.

- Visit Winterfell between December 1st and December 31st and take photos of things you find that are related to the Winter and Holiday Season

- Add your images to the pool, limit three per person.

- Each image's name must include the sim name where it was taken.

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Koinup's Cream of the Crop - True Friendship

The best thing in Secondlife for me has always been the friendships I've made. On a tough RL day, I know my bestests are waiting for me inside to go shake it off by being silly or to listen to me piss and moan. Virtual worlds have made the oceans seem far less vast and forged together unbelievable connections around the world. Koinup's Cream of the Crop today celebrates True Friendship. "Fate chooses your relations, you choose your friends."- Jacques Delille

I cannot tell you what a delight it is perusing the 532 works inside this group made of 191 members. The pics all make me grin from ear to ear and remember all the fun snaps I have taken. I made a slide show in game of all of mine and continually add to them. I'll have to upload them to this group to share with everyone as well. :-)

Photo by: Brunaozao

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Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Burning Life

As our continuing coverage of Burning Life continues this week I bring you Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Burning Life. This is an excellent group to join and add your memories from this year's event and also to browse and get a good look of all there is going on. With 218 works in this grouping posted by 41 members it's a really impressive collection.

There are only a few more days left to such a great event, so I also wanted to provide you a few links on what's going on out on the Burning Life sims so you can time your visit: http://burninglife.secondlife.com/eventsbrowse. Here's your link to the front gate: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Burning%20Life-%20Hualapai/253/3/24%C2%A0. I recommend if you are going with friends grab a tie dyed cart just inside the gate and travel in style.

Machinima by: RockerFaerie

RockerFaerie takes us on a really fantastic journey around a few of the exhibits at this year's event. It's really well shot and put together. If you don't think you have time to make it....at least watch the vid, you'll change your mind. This piece highlights works from Snowy Hoobinoo, Donpatchy Dagostino, Kazuhiro Aridian, and Poid Mahovlich.

Photo by: TaliaTokugawa

TaliaTokugawa's BL Berlin09 is a fantastic shot of one of the many stages out at the Burning Life sims. This particular stage was made by Kazuhiro Aridian...who is the fabulous creator of Europa.

Photo by: LoquaciaLoon

LoquaciaLoon's piece named Moon was shot at Burning Life-12 Mile and is just one of the many freebies available for you this year. Grapho Fullstop, of alpha-tribe, not only includes five marvelous avatars but some corresponding animations and some fabulous fun. Grab the notecard and enjoy this site.

Next week we return to our regular columns so please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Virtual Worlds Untouched

So last week I took you on a tour to see some heavily post processed works of art. This week I bring you Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of Virtual Worlds Untouched. This group was created to showcase virtually raw shots that were not just mundane in nature but superior snaps made by composing and lighting the shot just right in game.

The 33 members of this group use the tools in game as well as using their creative eye or classic photography rules to compose beautiful shots that just makes our jaw drop. For some great ways to spruce up your raw photos while shooting try some of these resources:

• Secondlife sky/water settings - http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/WindLight_settings
• Classic Photography Rules - http://tinyurl.com/ygavqmu or this one is a bit more funny but it emphasizes the point http://tinyurl.com/rxpmzc
  

Photo by: Musique

Musique has done a fabulous job composing and lighting this shot called Immerse Yourself in Fashion. The backdrop in game perfectly accents the model. And I really love the butterflies in the contrasting color.

Photo by: TheaMaiman

Thea Maiman has picked the popular sim of Bitterblue where it's always raining. The choice in place and the overall composition of this shot makes it a real winner. I really like how the lights look.

Photo by: Crystalship-Rehula

I love Crystalship-Rehula's entire collection of work. Here she shows off Memories of Blue. What a fabulous in game effect that makes it more ethereal looking.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Heavy Image Treatments

Today on Koinup's Cream of the Crop I bring you the group called Heavy Image Treatments. This fab group of individuals are more than photographers. They use the screen capture as a jumping off point then manipulate it with a photo editing program making the picture into a wonderful work of art.

The Admin, SysperiaPoppy, writes "What interests me is not the shot itself, but what the artist wishes to do with that moment: How they feel, what they want to communicate and what means they use to do that." This group has 59 wildly creative members who have submitted over 650 works to the collection. For those of you who haven't tried your hand at such things, like me, there are tons of tutorials on the web about manipulating photos. I know after seeing some of these I'm gonna give it a try! Here are a few sites I found that may help you try your hand at it: Layering SL Snapshops in Photoshop, 30+ Most Wanted Photo Manipulation Tutorials and 75+ Huge Compilation of Stunning Photo Manipulation Tutorials.

Photo by: Tessybaby

Tessybaby's Time and Space is a great example of layering a texture on top of a photo and really dramatically changing the piece. It is a really fabulously composed original photo or a nicely composed collage; either way this piece really pops.

Photo by: NeveryLorakeet

NeveryLorakeet's Dreaming the Sky is just fantastic! I can't tell where the photo starts nor ends. This is one of those pieces that just embodies photo manipulation techniques. I love it!

Photo by: Photoliv42

Photoliv42's Flight of Icarus is another really brilliant piece. It looks more painted than photographed. Really lovely use of layering and filtering.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Summer

As summer just closes for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere and the feeds fill up with more sweaters, I bring to you a group filled with summer memories. Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Summer brings us pictures full of bikini clad girls, surfer boys, sunshine, green grass, sandy beaches, pool parties, picnics, and backyard barbecues.

I love this repository of nearly 460 photos. It's like looking through tons of vacation photos and reminiscing about all the good times. It can be a real challenge to capture the essence of season but Summer’s 136 group have done it fabulously. For those of you missing summer already….the beauty of our virtual worlds are that it can always be in season. Don your beach clothes and add your fun photos to this great collection!

Photo by: Dimitri

Dimitri's Rosana & Lin is just one in many summertime themed works in his collection. Dimitri does a fantastic job of capturing the fun of the season. His Sims avis are seen doing everything from pool parties to picnics.

Photo by: rubyOkelly

Ruby's entry for the PureAngel contest is one that really captures the summertime feeling. Items like the sunlight on her face and water and the shadow of the palm makes this a really stellar piece.

Photo by: Kleinfeld

Kleinfeld is another artist whose works really revolve around summertime activities in Secondlife. I particularly liked this piece as you could see the sunlight effect on the subjects body.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Meet Me in the Metaverse - Isla Mallorca

This week's Meet Me in the Metaverse - Isla Mallorca came to me in a notecard in game so thanks so much for that! Isla Mallorca is a bit of split personality sim in that it has a big top circus on one side, some grungy housing, and if you take the teleporter you land on mars I think.

That being said, it's a fun place to take some wacky photos. The up top landscaping is minimalist, black ground and mountains make it a great place to mess with windlight and not get an odd looking nature. My first stop was the big top. I've always thought it would be fun to walk the high wire or be a trapeze artist so this was my big break. I wandered around top side click off photos of all there was to see then I took the teleporter and ended up on another planet altogether. The eyes have it below. It's a surreal space environment with tons of eyeballs staring at you.

Koinup's Isla Mallorca collection just has a few pics in it but it's worth the visit!

Photo by: fiona_haworth

This was my foray into being a trapeze artist. Thank god I'm not afraid of heights. The big top has tons of sunshine rays as seen here so those of you not good with photo-editing you still can get some great effects.

Photo by: jmanhoo

Jmanhoo's snapshot is of the lovely carousel. This beauty is rideable and has some really interesting poses that are fun for photos of self. And as you can see it lends itself really well to some more artistic undertakings as well.


Photo by: lontralatzo

Lontralatzo's An Awesome Planet is a great shot of the world below. I really liked the comments about it: "Can eyes of God see people everywhere and all the time?" Seems they can here anyway. ;-)

Thanks again to whomever sent me the notecard and my apologies for not giving you credit for the find. I lost the notecard prior to getting out to write this. Please comment below. If you are interested in having your sim featured on Meet Me in the Metaverse, please feel free to contact me in game or via the PM feature within Koinup (notecards in game work as well).

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Secondlife Sculptures

Anyone who really knows me...knows I'm in love with sculptures. These virtual 3D pieces of art line my mantle, cover some floor space, and even serve as a fountain on the grounds near my home. I even covered sculptures as part of my Home and Garden column on Phantom's Republic awhile back. So needless to say this week's Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Secondlife Sculpture is one that made me squeal with delight. YAY...a whole repository of pictures of these incredible works.

I'm so pleased to see so many great snaps of not only some of the established sculptors like Light Waves/Starax and Bryn Oh, but some of the up and comers like Amael Juran and Mo Ames. The collection contains 216 works submitted by 44 members and are totally worth the time to flip through them all.

2D pictures of a 3D object on a 2D screen is a bit like a mirror looking into another mirror infinitely as I think about it. So I took the time and visited these pieces "in person" as they were meant to be seen via our SL viewer. Thanks to those of you that added place links! I encourage all others posting to this group to do the same and allow us to visit these jaw dropping pieces.

Photo by: toxicmenges

Toxicmenges' snapshot features a bevy of beauties from the ever talented Amael Juran. Amael's sculptures are not only stunning but they are flawlessly smooth, highly versatile, and amazingly low prim. Each piece has a ton of options and is even modifiable for more customization.

Photo by: LookatmyBack

Lookatmy Back's Alpha and Omega is a beautiful shot of Light Waves / Starax piece. Light Waves or his earlier incarnation Starax is the big daddy of sculpture on the grid. He's been producing sculptures long before sculpties and has just gotten better since those were introduced.

Machinima by: kyota

Kyota's lovely vid not only shows off Joy's sculptures at the Mermaid Temple sim, but also cuts in a bit of the process that goes into making such a lovely work of 3D art. The film takes us in and out of the 3D program as it shows off the piece in game.

If your group is having a contest or an event, please PM me on Koinup and let me know. I'd love to cover all the fun to be had in joining such expressive groups of people from all over.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Meet Me in the Metaverse - AngelGate

This week on Meet Me in the Metaverse I'm taking you to a small set of sims called AngelGate, Dark Moon, and AngelGate Celestial. The sims are advertised as a place for non profit for creative arts, therapeutic and spiritual exploration in a stunning setting. And wow they weren't kidding. The sims contain art installations, a castle, a labyrinth, galleries and just spots to ponder the universe. And it will certainly inspire you to take some really fab photos.

The universal labyrinth isn't of the traditional high wall maze type. It's designed as rather a path to reflect and if you cam up I felt it had a little bit of celtic influence. The teleports within are not to be missed.

The AG3 Gallery is a lovely place to see art from all over the grid. Additionally they host talks with these artists. These are wonderful events where you can hear things like process or what inspires the artist. Sometimes it's all in group chat and other times it's in voice so be prepared for either.

More information on AngelGate and the happenings can be found here: http://angelgatelive.com/

Photo by: Shoji

This piece by Shoji really spoke to me about the real theme of AngelGate.....quiet reflection and inspiration. Shoji's pic just hit the nail on the head.

Photo by: BluraySpyker

BluraySpyker's Dark Moon Islands piece is a really lovely aerial shot of the sim. As you can see there are small separations of space each giving a bit different experience to the explorer. To the bottom left is the labyrinth I wrote about eariler.

Photo by: Ravenelle Zugzwang

Ravenelle's picture is of just one of the many different spaces in AngelGate. Here the flowers and butterflies glow just a bit giving it an ethereal feeling.

As you can see from the three pictures I've chosen is there is a lot of variety here at the AngelGate sims, so there is something for everyone. As always, if you are interested in having your sim featured on Meet Me in the Metaverse, please feel free to contact me in game or via the PM feature within Koinup.

PS....late breaking news there is a presentation on Starax's wand at 10am SLT today!!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Black and White Works

On today’s Koinup’s Cream of the Crop I choose an art form I just have had a love affair with since high school – Black and White Works. Just over a 100 years after the first color photograph was produced, we still hold a torch for monochromatic images. Black and white images are powerful, elegant, special, and romantic. They can create beauty out of otherwise mundane images. Black and White photography requires that the photographer concentrate on different elements of a photograph like contrast, shapes, negative space and lighting.

Black and White Works celebrates this beautiful art form with a multiple world group. Since we cannot produce raw black and white images from in game, the screen captures need to be converted in a photo editor for a bit of post production prior to publication. This talented group currently has 90 members and 290 fab images in its collection and serves as homage to the humble beginnings of photography and how beautiful our virtual world can be in only one color.

Photo by: brickhousefrog

Brickhousefrog's Don't Mess w a Brick highlights the subject in a way a color photograph never could have done. The contrast of this piece displays it's real power.

Photo by: novadyszel

Novadyszel's Railroad Track shows how making a photograph black and white can make it from something fairly mundane into a thing of beauty.

Photo by: MaggyWorld

MaggyWorld's Black & White Shadow plays with shapes and negative/positive space in a peice. Really nicely done!

Please feel free to PM fiona_haworth on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. I'd love to feature your group on Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Meet Me in the Metaverse - Fat Tuesday

This week's Meet Me in the Metaverse features a sim called Fat Tuesday. For those of you not familiar with Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday seem like an odd sim name. However it's a literal translation (Mardi Gras = Fat Tuesday). In SL, Fat Tuesday is an amazing recreation of New Orleans' French Quarter which is where the United States biggest Mardi Gras celebration is held yearly in February.

Fat Tuesday is really well done contains builds like the St. Louis Cathedral, Louisiana State University, and a fun spin off of Cafe du Monde called Cafe du Gos. I even took a few photos I know I have in RL of the Big Easy.

Koinup's collection is a little weak in photos of Fat Tuesday so I'm hoping you readers will use your extraordinary photographer's eye and fill in some more photos of a place SL is lucky to have around. It’s a fun backdrop for fab pictures, a lovely place to hang out, and for those of you looking to get a bit of retail therapy, Bourbon Street has a few shops.

Photo by: fiona_haworth

Here is a fun picture of Bourbon Street. I snapped this one as the trolley went by. As you can see the sim creators did a marvelous job capturing the essense of the French Quarter. Complete with colorful walls, hanging plants, and wrought iron balconies.

Photo by: AmiBeattie

AmiBeattie's photograph of St. Louis Cathedral just blew me away. I love the reflection on the water and the mood she's given it with the color tones she chose for the piece.

Photo by: fiona_haworth

So I just had to include this one. I have a pic of me in real life at this famous cafe - Cafe du Monde with the plate of beignets almost gone and powered sugar fallen on my black t-shirt. MMMMM....my mouth waters just thinking about it. Big thanks to Gospel Voom for letting me relive this memory in SL!

As always, if you are interested in having your sim featured on Meet Me in the Metaverse, please feel free to contact me in game or via the PM feature within Koinup.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup Cream of the Crop - Dystopian Society

While I very much view my virtual life as some attempt to find my own private idaho (utopia or paradise in other words)....this week's Koinup Cream of the Crop - Dystopian Society highlights the very opposite. Dystopia portrays themes like cyber-tech, poverty, oppression, violence, societal chaos, dehumanization, totalitarian government, rampant disease, and post-apocalypse.

Dystopia allows us to explore fears of future states or different directions humanity can take if not careful in its decisions. These themes are prevalent in tons of science fiction books and movies. The Dystopian Society group contains tons of pieces along the same lines. The group guides the participants to think of movies/books/ideas like 1984, Blade Runner, Gulliver's Travels, Brave New World, Logan's Run, Pink Floyd's The Wall, cyperpunk, steampunk, etc .

Currently, the Dystopian Society group only has about 39 members and 125 works, but I think SL, SIMS and WoW all have some great places where this theme could easily be explored and more content contributed to this small fantastic collection.

Photo By: LookatmyBack

LookatmyBack's Running towards the end! is a fabulous example of what this group is all about. It features a pretty common element of human oppression. I love Look's comment "No avatars have been harmed to take this snapshot! They're just scripted dolls and statues! Any blood stain is a fake! It's virtual tomato sauce! ^_^" LOL!

Photo by: Doubledown Tandino

Doubledown Tandino's peice was taken at Poetik and features Bryn Oh's robot. It rather reminded me of the film A.I. Artifical Intelligence and the world of rouge mechas.

Photo by: Arowhena

Arowhena's Arthas is a fab piece from World of Warcraft and leaves one thinking of an alternate reality.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Meet Me in the Metaverse - Macbeth

This week's Meet Me in the Metaverse is Macbeth. It is a sim inspired by the bard himself, Shakespeare. It is a place to explore or role play or just learn more about the play. Scattered among the grounds are textbooks that contain notecards to help learn more about this drama. For those of you unfamiliar with Shakespeare's Macbeth it is a dark play about disorder, murder, power seeking, and sorcery. The visuals are in line with that darkness that brooding rainy feeling. Expect no sunshine as this place is set at midnight.

Macbeth is funded by the Literature Board of the Australian Council for the Arts and sponsored by the New Media Consortium. Not only a place rich in imagery, but full of sounds as well so make sure you’ve turned up the volume on your soundcard. At the landing point you’ll see scrolling lines of text from the play and small icons that to teleport you to the different areas of island. This sim has a lot to offer if you are in the mood to explore it properly. There are a few hidden gems like the chamber of blood, the maze and the cube of nothingness.

Photo by: Ivus

Ivus' Macbeth, Gallery appears beautiful close up....but look a bit deeper. The flowers begin to fade. Look even deeper can you see the hands? This is the Path of Temptation. As you traverse this path things get darker and lines of text scroll about on the floor like snakes.

Photo by: zoevisonti

Zoevisonti's Macbeth sim shows the nest of the raven. Everything about this picture symbolizes death which is of course the point.

Photo by: HarleyRose

HarleyRose's Trapped Spirits is taken inside the maze. The maze symbolizes the very end of Macbeth where there is confusion about the prophesies of the witches and the way to escape his impending death.

For more info about Macbeth the sim, check out this wiki. There is a lot of good info about the design of the sim and how to find the hidden sections with ease. If you are interested in having your sim featured on Meet Me in the Metaverse, please feel free to contact me in game or via the PM feature within Koinup.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup’s Cream of the Crop - Not Possible IRL

Today on Koinup’s Cream of the Crop I’d like to feature a group that not only do I belong to on Koinup but one I am also a member of in SL. Not Possible IRL first gained my attention as a blog about virtual art, architecture, and products that one could never see in real life. Bettina Tizzy’s blog, in game group, and Koinup group all follow through on that very theme. The one thing I’ve always enjoyed about being a part of this group of individuals is the promotion of art for art’s sake.

Koinup's NPIRL group has 72 members and 372 amazing pieces of art. It's a great repository to peruse when you have some time. Additionally, I suggest reading Bettina's blog. It's at great way to spend a few hours or more and you'll find out about a ton of things to do in game. The Not Possible IRL group is open enrollment and has a 500L join fee. Bettina sends out a weekly notice with tons going on.

Photo by: LeaSupermarine

I love the mixed reality used in LeaSupermarine's Just Hold Me (Precious Treasure). Additionally the subject matter is just wonderfully fanciful.

Photo by: Bettinatizzy

Bettinatizzy's Kazuhiro's Seadryke and Dravyn was a pic for one of Bettina's blogs. The seadryke is SO SO SO fab. Check out Bettina's write up here.

Photo by: ariel_brearly

I've become a real fan of Ariel's from flipping through all these pics for this gig. Think Tank is just one of the many in Ariel's collection. I love the surrealism of all her art.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Meet Me in the Metaverse - Omega Point

There is little else more thrilling than an idea coming to fruition. Virtual worlds enable us to accomplish and experience things we’ve only dreamed about, read about, or seen in movies. Worlds like SL, the Sims, World of Warcraft and similar allow us to wander faraway lands or crawl into someone’s imagination. This week on Meet Me in the Metaverse, I want to take you to a Dark Fantasy/Sci-fi World…Omega Point.

Omega Point has predominately sepia toned infrastructure with a good bit of neon highlights. It feels very HR Giger inspired with surreal dark themed biomechanical imagery. Additionally, the creators worked hard to make this single sim into a richly full destination. They accomplished this by having several elevations that are all interconnected. It is almost so full you can lose yourself inside. I’ve visited Omega Point a few times and on each visit I’ve found even more than on the last. Omega Point is advertised as a hangout, but there is a bit of biomechanical themed retail products as well. This is a lovely place to spend some time especially if you are a science fiction fan.


Photo by: senswansong

Senswansong's OmegaPoint captures this sim perfectly. As you can see above, the many walkways and neon accents and how organically mechnical this featured sim really is. Senswansong did a wonderful job with both the choice of windlight settings and the perspective.

Photo by: marmaduke

I chose Mamaduke's Snapshot_019 to illustrate the depth this sim has as well as the tenticle-like arm accents that really do make it into that biomechanical feeling I was discussing above.

Photo by: fiona_haworth

This last pic is one I took on my most recent visit. Each one of the shots I chose today seemed more of the raw photography style vs enhanced pics. Perhaps that is because this sim is so wild that it didn't need the extras.

I want to remind all you SL'rs to tag your pictures with the SLURL and share them with the rest of the community. All you need to do is add the sim name with /128/128/0 at the end of the prepopulated field titled Add SLurl.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup’s Cream of the Crop - Hiperia3D’s Machinima Selections

Not only does Koinup have some fabulously talented photographers and still artists but we have an unbelievable pool of machinimagraphers as well. These folks stage everything from the most simple of how-tos to elaborate music videos. They take up gigs and gigs of space on their hard drives filming in 3D game platforms, then edit, cut, set them to a sound track of voice or music, and release them into the wild for our viewing pleasure. The results are amazing short films where the machinimists is entire team (director, cameraman, editor, sound engineer...).

Koinup’s Cream of the Crop this week I’ve picked Hiperia3D’s Machinima Selections. This group was founded in April of 2008. Its aim is to promote the works of machinima directors. It’s open to works from all 3D worlds and currently contains 192 wonderfully entertaining pieces. Make sure to turn up your sound as each of the following have fantastic soundtracks.

Machinima by: toxicmenges

Toxicmenges' LoveLife could easily be a vid to get people interested in SL. In 4 short minutes, Toxic takes us on a journey from orientation island down the rabbithole into some of SL's big activites and landmarks while illustrating not only how incredibly beautiful Secondlife is but how complex it is as well.

Machinima by: RockerFaerie

This piece by RockerFaerie is named Art is Hard. Perhaps it is commentary on the challenges that artists in 3D worlds encounter while trying to create in this bold new medium or perhaps is it just a music vid showcasing Cursive's song Art is Hard which is the soundtrack. Either way it's pretty brilliant and worth the watch.

Machinima by: BrynOh

BrynOh's Self is a thing of true beauty. I particularly love the after effects Bryn uses in presenting this piece for our viewing pleasure. Shot on location at Immersiva sim that was designed and built by Bryn.

If your group is having a contest or an event, please PM me on Koinup and let me know. I'd love to cover all the fun to be had in joining such expressive groups of people from all over.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Meet Me in the Metaverse - Dive World

Under the sea…Under the sea…Darling it's better…Down where it's wetter. On today's Meet Me in the Metaverse I'm taking you all to the lovely sim called Dive World where you can don your scuba gear, swimming AO, mermaid outfit or whatever suits your fancy and explore the ocean depths. As you back roll off the docks, you enter the domain of the fishes…and let me tell you this sim has tons to see down there. A few shipwrecks, sharks and whales of many varieties, tons of tropical fish, morays eels , coral reefs, and even sting rays.

This sim is owned by Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). From what I can tell they just utilize SecondLife to virtually dive and also advertise their real world presence. Additionally, Dive World promotes Project Aware not only through traditional channels but via a game you can play on the sim. Project Aware is a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving underwater environments. They perform cleanups and conservation and education on protecting our RL oceans. Check out Project Aware here: http://www.projectaware.org/ and PADI here: http://www.padi.com/scuba/.

Photo by: YuNEO_Nagy

This work above from YuNeo_Nagy simply titled Dive World_35 is a wonderful composition. It not only is a lovely perspective but the use of the light is mighty clever. The other part I really liked about this piece was how real it looked.

Photo by: KikiDeVinna

KikiDeVinna did a fantastic job catching her subject scuba diving in her piece called Diving Larz. I love all the details captured in this shot. From the bubbles to the whales in the background she doesn't lose the subject of her piece.

Photo by: _oO-Sieg-Oo_

_oO-Sieg-Oo_'s work called Night captures the coral reef with wonderful contrast when shot in the night setting. The tropical fish just pop against darkness of the reef.

I found this last pic by doing a tag search as it wasn't in the collection. I want to remind all you SL'rs to tag your pictures with the SLURL and share them with the rest of the community. All you need to do is add the sim name with /128/128/0 at the end of the prepopulated field titled Add SLurl.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Koinup's Cream of the Crop - Historical Works

Humans by and large learn and retain greatly via visuals. History is one of those things without media becomes a mundane fact memorizing exercise. Creative individuals can be inspired by a study of history to use recorded facts along with a few graphic inputs to develop a picture of how things may have been.

Koinup's Historical Works Group is for pieces set in historical, ancient and times past. From Victorian to Stoneage, real or fantasy. These pieces provide a fantastic window into the perceived past. This small group of 22 members has over 200 posts and is looking for another moderator to ensure pieces stay within the theme. Additionally, they have started a discussion topic. Not bad for a group that just got started a few months ago. Looks like they are off to a running start on fostering a lovely community full of historical themes.

Photo by: Link

Link's Dreaming, Just Try Dreaming... is a tribute to WWII. Link composed a really lovely piece complete with appropriate attire and surroundings. Definitely has a nostalgic feeling to it.

Photo by: MedeAthena

MedeAthena's The Mirror expresses days gone by not only a very victorian themed subject matter but also with the monochromatic tones of the piece.

Photo by: Jasper

Jasper's Malick Gay I shows some wonderful past era expression and beautiful depth of field. This work also contains a snippet of a story that Jasper illustrates both visually and textually.

Please feel free to PM me on Koinup and tell me all about what's happening in your groups. You never know when you'll be Koinup's Cream of the Crop pick of the week!

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth

Meet Me in the Metaverse - Mont Saint Michel

I'm a real life explorer. I try to plan a trip out of the country every few years. Several years back, I saw a pic of Mont Saint Michel in Normandy, France and it's been on my must see list ever since. I just haven't gotten back to France yet. One of the things I love best about SL is the chance to see some recreations of RL things be it architecture to toys. It always brings a smile. Since I've not made it to Normandy yet, at least I have gotten to explore Mont Saint Michel virtually. And it's my Meet Me in the Metaverse pick of the week.

Mont Saint Michel is a lovely estate sim that not only serves as a recreation of this historic landmark but also has a good bit of retail. It is the home of Edelweiss and anyone reading this that is a fashionista knows it's the end stop for the bi-yearly CSR coupon event. (Which is going on now). I want encourage you all to take a big roam around the sim and see how beautifully the creators have recreated the multiple elevations that make up this fantastic RL landmark.

Photo by: butler_cathand

I love butler_cathands' piece Le Mont Saint Michel. I'm sure to find something similar on a postcard once I visit this real life landmark. The fog effect used on this piece adds a good bit of realism.

Photo by: Chaos_Teardrop

Chaos_Teardrop's Le Mont Saint-Michel takes an interesting perspective on the gianormus structure. It gives a fantastic aerial to see the grounds and all the levels.

Photo by: Tallie

Tallie's Mont Saint Michel piece takes us out of the clouds and down to street level. As you can see from this work, there is a lot more to Mont Sant Michel than just the outer structure.

If you are interested in having your sim featured on Meet Me in the Metaverse, please feel free to contact me in game or via the PM feature within Koinup.

Fiona Haworth
Guest Author - Koinup.com
Staff Blogger - Phantom’s Republic
Co-Owner - Prim Pads
Twitter - Fiona_Haworth