The Haunting of Hill Valley

The Haunting of Hill Valley is a fairly interesting build.  It is owned by Cinn Morigi (cinnamonmousse) & Syler Avon (jaiden.nexen), who are the owners of GTFO (Get the Freight out), which I had blogged about previously. 
The Haunting of Hill Valley is located on the Basenville region in the Satori continent, right off of Route 8.  It is a really cool build because Hill Valley is an actual neighborhood, that is located in the next two regions, one with homes and the other region contains townhouses, along with the GTFO HQ.  In the Haunted section, you can click on a bike rezzer and take a little ride around the neighborhoods, right up to the board walk and their store plaza area. 
I really could go on and on about what is there, since there was so much to see.  For the Haunted area, you have a large haunted mansion to explore, a smaller witches house with all the trimmings, a large and small graveyard, along with a haunted gazebo that has dancing ghosts around it. 
Chatting with one of the owners, this is an area that they plan on doing many things with.  They are on the Top SL Haunted Places tour and hunt and they are in the Destination Guide as well, for this season.  This is basically their Event/Display area, which will be changing with the seasons and the different holidays, so this is a place to keep your eyes on. 
The land is rated moderate and a little heads up that the neighborhoods contain rentals, the beach houses, homes, and townhouses.

**A little side notes: While blogging these areas and since I'm a major Halloween fan, I decided I would show off the costumes I like to wear while I'm working on these areas.  The costume I'm wearing is called the Georgina Outfit, from AFI Designs.  It comes with a hat, hair, jacket, jeans, boots, and the balloon, which has the holding pose in it.  It is really super cute on and I was having a blast wearing it while I was doing my landscape photography.  Check AFI Designs out for more Halloween costumes as well.  She has some really great ideas and selection to choose from.

 **WL used was by Jay Battlescare - Special Deco 4.0 (1)

Something Wickedly Haunting Has Arrived

My favorite time of the year is here, with the breezes becoming crisper with fresh, cool air and the colorful palette of fall covering the landscapes in RL and in SL.  Tours are in the last stages of planning for the season and you can feel an excitement thrumming through fellow Fall lovers, all eager for the turn of the seasonal clock.
At this time of the year, I do tend to be more involved with landscape photography.  I cannot help but try to capture all the amazing sights that are put together and created by so many talented artists.  With that said, I felt that starting with Pendle Hill and the owner and creator of the sim, Lauren Bentham, was only right since her work was the first I seen in SL, back in 2009.
Lauren Bentham has created and owned some amazing sims over the years, including the Baja Beach regions, Arranmore, Everwinter, Storybrooke Gardens, Netherwood, and Bentham Manor.  Each one is very high quality in appearance, right down to the smallest of details. 
There is a group that is available to join with a one time fee of 175L, if you wish to rezz things, which goes to the upkeep of the land.  (Remember to pick up after yourself though please).  The region is a moderate rating and it is up all year long.  They also have a Flickr group that you are encouraged to submit your photos to, if you have taken photos at Pendle Hill.

For the windlights, I was using Jay's Battlescars newest ones that were released recently in the large 26 in 1 pack from his blog.

Happy Halloween Athenaeum

Well, I am down to my last post for Halloween, on Halloween Eve, no less.  I think it is fitting that it is Athenaeum that is the last post.  A sim that is fully done up for this day, in particular, that achieved a perfect sense of the eeriness and a bit of the macabre in their decor.  They went with a more classic, vintage-style, which is very well suited for this season and then added the perfect touches to bring an atmosphere that is almost palatable, on their sim. 
If you have any last minute photo work that you wished to do, this sim has been set up to be a visual treat that is quite photographic, with a number of areas for you to visit, enjoy, and get your Halloween spirit into the mood.

The Peace of Glenrosa

Autumn is a season filled with a myriad of different hues of colors and we are reminded by the cooling weather that winter is not far now.  Seeing all the different blogs dedicated to landscapes and destinations, I figured today I would actually do one that is not showing the autumn colors but instead is just a peaceful forest, filled with the colors of summer.  

Glenrosa is both peaceful and serene, though, with the right wind lighting, you can deepen those colors and create even an ominous backdrop for your photo work, depending on your mood.  As you will see in my photos that I grabbed, while at the sim, I used several different windlight settings to give different atmospheres to my photography.

The sim is well thought out, well designed with a solid eye towards each section blending in with the other, creating a seamlessness in your visual experience.  It is a sim well worth the tp over to check it out.

Mesmeric Cove

As you step down from the train, the steam escaping from under the train is blown away by the cool brisk breeze, which tussles your hair and blows it across your face.  Both hands weighed down with a suitcase, you whip your head to the side, attempting to clear your vision.  As the strands are once more blown, this time out of your face, you get your first clear view of where you have stopped.  The train platform looks like it is from a time long gone, and there is a crisp, earthy scent of decaying leaves tickling your nose.  Glancing a little more to your left, you see in the distant, the faint shadows of buildings and the soft glow of light from some of their windows, dotting the landscape.  Tipping your head slightly to the side, you stand there studying scene in front of you, your inner voice whispering in your mind, "Now what have you gotten yourself into, this time?"  The better question though should be, can you unlock the history and mysteries of Mesmeric Cove.

Our turn through The Looking Glass

In 1871, Lewis Carroll invited us to go through a looking glass with a little girl named Alice, where she was met with fantastic adventures with amazing creatures in this wondrous fantasy land, which was her second trip in fact to this strange land. 
In Second Life, we can travel through to an amazing and wonderful land, thanks to the creative and talented minds of Marcus Inkpen and Sharni Azalee, the owners of The Looking Glass sim.
They have created a sim that is fantastical, whimsical and different, with touches of steampunk atmosphere, earthy charm and a wonderful eye to the smallest details.  Depending on which lighting you choose, you can go from fantasy, to steampunk to gothic very easily. 
I took several photos myself, getting a small taste of some of the things that the sim offered but it's a sample, since there is so much more than what I can even show in just one posting..so drop by and visit and see for yourselves on how many things, wonders and adventures you can find here.

One of Annan Adored's windlight settings

Regions windlight settings

As you can see from the photos of the same tree, windlight is really everything, giving the same thing a whole different look and feel about it.

The Looking Glass