Sous les Oliviers

Sous les Oliviers introduction: 

As the theme of Tuscany, Sous les Oliviers is a place to relax, explore or simply admire the view, Sous les Oliviers is the ideal retreat. Every nook and cranny is designed to offer you an immersive and soothing experience, away from the hustle and bustle.

 After landing, I could see the resemblance and the inspiration of Tuscany in the design of the sim.  Ely, who was the designer of the sim, did capture the essence and beauty of Tuscany in the different areas, with the beautiful architecture of the buildings around the landscape, to the actual landscape throughout the sim.  I could almost smell the tantalizing and mouthwatering smells coming from the market, once more; which is how amazingly well Ely did with this build.

This sim is wonderful for exploring, fantastic for photography, and the serene and tranquil atmosphere that I found here, is amazing for just relaxing in.  

If you do take photos here, Sous les Oliviers does have their own flickr group, so please feel free to share.

A Love Letter to Mimmo

I admit I did mull over the title for a bit before I came to realize that I had fallen in love with this breathtakingly beautiful region.  As a photographer, I have seen many beautiful and creative places.  Each one that I have visited and posted about, took my breath away in some way, be it visually, emotionally, and/or spiritually.  Mimmo, to me, is a dedication to photographers and their photography.  Everywhere I looked, there was a photo opportunity waiting for you to click your camera and capture it.
Mimmo is owned by Eli Cord (Elise Sirnah), who is a talented photographer herself.  Her gallery shows her work off, giving examples from Mimmo itself, of beautiful works of art.  If you are wondering what Mimmo means, it's an Italian term of endearment for a child or baby, and you can see, this is her baby.  Every inch of the land is done with love and dedication for photography, from the stream that runs through the entire region to the soft rolling hills and the mountains.  You are invited to rest and relax, allowing you to let your creativity loose on the beautiful landscape.
For photographers who need to rezz, there is a group available to join, just remember to clean up after yourself when you are done.  There is also a Flickr group that you can join, to submit your work to, as well.
For once, I find that I just don't have enough words to describe this amazing place, so instead, I think I'll let my work show you.  My only hope is that I did Mimmo justice in my photos.

If you don't already know it, Jay T Muir updated and released a large pack of wl's that he had available in his blog for free.  He now has it packaged all together, so there is 26 wl's in one pack.  Most of my photos were taken with his wl's here, with the exception of the last one with the painting on the easel, which was taken with Ambient Realism.  The link is to his FB page, just scroll down a little way and you will find the post where he released them along with the download link.

The sweet sounds of Melody

I should first confess that I love fall.  The colors, sounds, smells, and the feeling of a cool breeze on my cheek, are all things that make fall one of the most amazing seasons for me.  I'm a lover of all things that happen during this season, including the landscaping and decorations that are done on the grid, during this time of the year.
This next sim is called Melody and they put together an amazing visual of the season on their land.  As I walked through, I could almost feel that cool breeze caressing my cheek and hear the crisp crunching sound of the leaves under my boots.  Photographically, they put together a treat for the eye, in the way they blended the colors together in their landscaping.  I highly recommend popping over and enjoying the hard work that went into 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.

Field of Dreams

If you are an avid fan of photography, then you should be made aware of this fantastic event that occurs each week called Photohunts.  I've done many photo hunts with this group in the past and they find the most fantastic, out of the way, amazing sims!  I'm not sure how they find all of these wonderful treasures, but they do.  If you want to take a little peek at them, you will find them here.
Thanks to this group, I can also bring you this wonderful sim, which was featured back in February by the Photohunts group called Field of Dreams.  The amount of detail and the feel of the sim is blended perfectly together to create a rustic and charming atmosphere throughout the sim.  There is quite a number of great areas for photography at the sim, allowing for quite a variety of different shots that can be done here, keeping in mind that the land does have a moderate rating, so no xrated photos please.
As you will see from some of the photos I took while I was there, I had alot of fun with both windlight and angles on some of the shots.  I hope you enjoy!

Foul Whisperings: Etheral and Dark Beauty that it is.

     I recall coming across this sim a couple of years ago.  Foul Whisperings is hauntingly beautiful and almost ethereal in it's atmosphere.  According to the sim owners description, it's a symbolic treatment of the key elements or themes of Shakespeare's play, Macbeth. 
     I admit, I'm a geek; I love Shakespeare's works and in fact own a very impressive collection of his plays so a sim dedicated to one of his most well known plays is intriguing to me, to say the least. 
     The sim is designed with different scenes from the play, incorporated in the design to create an amazing experience all together.  This is a sim that honestly deserved to be explored slowly, so that you can discover all the different areas.  There is, according to the notecard that you can receive, an experience that has also been set up, so that you can fully be immersed in the atmosphere that they designers have produced.
For photographers or photo hobbyists, the sim sports some very impressive and diverse areas that are wonderful for different photographic themes.  From dark, maybe gothic look, to an ethereal and possibly even a macabre theme, it's all located at the sim for your pleasure.  
As you will see, I went with more of a fantasy/medieval theme for my own outfit, so there is a few more looks I hadn't mentioned earlier that is also doable at this fantastic sim.  Enjoy!

Credits for Foul Whisperings:
Developed by Kate Richards, Angela Thomas and Kerreen Ely Harper through a grant funded by the Australian Council for the Arts Literature Board, and sponsored by investor partner, the New Media Consortium.

Producer: Kate Richards (Nini Dubrovny)
Director: Kerreen Ely-Harper (Dorothy Porta)
Virtual Worlds Content Designer: Angela Thomas (Anya Ixchel)
Design Consultant: Adam Nash (Adam Ramona)