Petit Lac Des Cygnes

Petit Lac Des Cygnes, which means Little Swan Lake in English, is inspired by the Southwest French countryside, near the foothills of the Pyrenees mountain range, according to the introductory notecard you receive, upon entering the sim.  It is the private home of Cougar Sangria & Henry McAuley, who have graciously opened their home to the public, Wednesday - Sunday.
There are several areas that you can visit on the sim.  There is a quaint cafe, a private dining area called Antoinette's, a maze, the L'Orangerie, and a swimming pool.  The Chateau that you will see on the land is the owners private home, which is not a public area, but with all the things to see and experience, you will be kept quite busy.
There is a group, with a small 25L fee to join, if you need to rezz something for photos, with only the small request to clean up after yourselves.
They do have a 75 script limit and a 200,000 complexity limit active there, so please keep that in mind when visiting and sex is prohibited.
They also have a Flickr group that you can join so you can share with them any photos that you may take of the sim. 
There are many areas for some fantastic photo opportunities.  The landscaping is incredibly detailed and well thought out and the feel is both rustic and quaint, at the same time.  A lot of love, time, and effort was put into the creation of this sim and it's obvious in the amount of detail that you will see here.

The Ippos Collective: Ippos

This is the 2nd sim, in the Ippos Collective, the Ippos sim itself.  Filled with idyllic views of amazing forests, beautiful paths to follow, and plenty of open spaces to enjoy, it's home to quite a few SL photographers, according to the Ippos website. 
The whole sim is in full autumn bloom, with falls palette painting your view with vibrant colors and amazing opportunities for photos.  Each area is filled with wonderful discoveries, each one was done with a very critical eye for the most minute detail. 
As mentioned, there are residents on this sim, so respect to the residents is emphasized, which is understandable.

The Ippos Collective: Pegasoi

While looking through lm's and different links from friends, I came across a link called the Ippos Collective.  I had not heard of it before so I popped over to see for myself what I would find.

At this time of the year, I am normally looking for fall/Halloween style sims and on Pegasoi, which is where I landed, I found a small section with some fall, with the remaining portion of the sim in an amazing fantasy landscape style.  Impressive is a good word to describe Pegasoi, since it is done in a manner that gives you a visual feel of being somewhere quite ethereal.

Normally, before I start clicking photos, I do research on the sims.  I find out what inspired them, how things are set up and basically get a general feel for the sim.  I'll be honest, Pegasoi was so pretty, I just started clicking away happily and found out later that there is not 1, but 4 sims to enjoy, hence the "Collective" part of their name.

Due to the fact that each sim is amazing in its own right, I will be doing 4 separate posts for the Ippos Collective.  Pegasoi is the first of the series.

As you can see, there are areas where the season is reflected on this sim.

Fall is in the air

As the season is changing, so is the look on some of the sims.  As a reflection of real life, the sims have been changing up their seasons, creating amazing landscapes which are filled with colorful views based off of the fall palette.
Frog Hollow has set up their sim with the warm and vibrant colors of fall, with dancing leaves, bright hues in the trees and a warm sense of atmosphere surrounding this, their keen eye has paid amazing homage to this season.
Sadly, this is a temporary installation, which will end when the leaves stop falling, according to the description in their LM, so visit it while you can.

Tea Time on the Grid

While looking through my previous posts, I have noticed that I have been trending more heavily towards charming, rustic sims/areas so for today's post, I've gone more towards a sim that is very peaceful, beautifully done and leaning towards a more zen look. 
Moonlight Tea house is well done, each detail very well thought out and to just sit and enjoy the visual beauty of it, I found it extremely peaceful.  The blending of plant life with the water life is seamlessly done, with koi slowly swimming through the waters, lending graceful motion through the colorful scheme. 
With many areas that are perfect opportunities for photos, this is a fantastic area for hobby and professional photographers alike.  That being said though, for someone just looking for a spot to rest their weary selves and enjoy the visual grace and beauty of this place, you will find it both relaxing and exhilarating.

And in case you missed the link up top, here it is again! 
Moonlight Teahouse

Shitenno Isle

Looking back in the last few posts, I figure I've been hitting a little too many rustic villages and settings, so today I set out to find something a little different.  The upside of looking for something different is that you never know what you will find and the downside is you don't know what you will find..
I found Shitenno Isle, which if you know me really well; you will know I love the Oriental artistry and culture alot.  Maybe due to the fact that I am such an avid follower of the style, I was maybe expecting a little more than what I found.  Don't get me wrong, I found some beautiful views and areas in Shitenno Isle but I also felt like it wasn't quite finished.  The idea and the set up is perfect for a beginning but I suppose what I missed was more foliage and more detail to be done on the grounds.  The buildings though, you will find no complaints there.  They are breath taking, very very detailed and beautifully textured and arranged on the land.  The town square is done perfectly, with the exception of once more, not enough detail in decorating the land.  Maybe I'm dropping in before they are finished and I hope that is the case because I would love to see the finished work, since I did see a ton of promise there.
Please note..the land is set for Adult, so please keep that in mind when popping over there and you will have to look around a bit for those spots I mentioned but they are well worth it.

For anyone interested in which windlight settings I'm using, here is the list that was used today:
First photo:  Phototools - Absinthe Light
2nd photo:  Phototools - Dreambook Light 03
3rd photo:  Jay Battlescars 4.0 - Summer
4th photo:  Places Alirium
5th photo:  Annalu Default 3