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.

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.

Up, Up, and Away!

The airplane stays up because it doesn't have the time to fall. Orville Wright

It's been a while since I had a chance to write in my blog.  Life likes to throw you some busy periods and I have had a long stretch of one.  Since I have had a little more time, I have been keeping myself busy finding some new and interesting things to do and see.  Through some friends, I was introduced to two amazing groups, GTFO(Get the Freight Out!) and Drivers of SL.

Through these groups, I have been exposed to some wonderful places on the mainlands, like Aniak Airfield.  While there, I was able to take some photos of the decorative skills of Syler Avon & Rurua, who are responsible for the amazing look and feel of Aniak Airfield, which is owned by Cinn Bouchard, the owner of the wonderful GTFO game.

The airfield is a fully functioning airfield, where you will see planes coming and going.  They have a monthly competition going on for the pilots, the Flyer of the Month and a system that is unique to their airfield, called a STOL runway landing sensor, which measures the accuracy of landings and take-offs.

As for the setup, the whole area is set up with a quaint rustic, vintage-style of feel to it.  All of it is tastefully done, including their little rental homes and parking/storage areas for your planes.  The entire airfield is not just well thought out but wonderfully put together, so there is consistency through the entire area.

For photographers, this is a fantastic area for vintage style photos and if you need to use a pose stand, you are able to do so here.  *Remember to clean up after you are done and keep in mind, there is active planes coming and going in this airfield.*

Achill Island: A Touch of Irish Charm

Yesterday I did a bit of a walkabout on the grid.  Translation: I was profile perving and finding places that I have never heard of or thought they sounded interesting.  

Achill Island was in the 8th profile I had perved..I mean, checked out. and it just sounded so charming, quaint, and adorable that I had to take a peek.  I'm really glad I did that.  It has this sweet, charming feel of it, that was reminiscent of Ireland.    Designed and landscaped by the talented Minnie Atlass, she captures the feel, colors, and atmosphere of the Irish countryside in vivid detail.  

As you will see in the photos, it is set up with rolling hills, a peaceful and relaxing pond, and the cliffs are rugged and dramatic looking, similar to what you would find in Ireland.

Photographers are welcome but this is also a private home for Ziggy Duster and Grace Sixpence, who are gracious enough to open their land and share, so respect for their private areas, please.

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 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.

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.

Netherwood: Rustic Beauty!

I seem to be on a rustic, country kick right now but I can't help it, the creators make them just too gorgeous to pass up, which brings me to Netherwood.  Netherwood is owned and created by Lauren Bentham, who is also the owner and creator of Bentham Manor, Everwinter sim,Baja Norte, Baja Cove, Baja Bay, Baja Sands & Storybrooke Gardens.  Wow, busy lady! 
Nertherwood is a blending of beautiful landscape, well thought houses with livestock grazing gently in small pastures, a rivers framing the landscape, creating a gentle flow throughout the sim.  It is a little graphically demanding in some areas, so this is not for the faint of video cards but even on the lower settings, you cannot miss the beauty that has been created here by a designer with an amazing eye for detail.  If you are looking to rezz things, like bloggers and photographers enjoy doing, there is a group that you can join that will give you the rights to temporarily rezz which costs 150L.  As the owner states though, that helps keep the sim running, so well worth helping her out.
I admit, I enjoyed photographing this sim quite a lot, since there is just so much to enjoy and the set up to be honest is perfect for photos, in my opinion; so please enjoy!

Now off to find another adventure and wander the great wide grid!

If you were looking for the link, here it is!  Netherwood
*The land is moderate btw, so please remember and respect that, thank you!*

Oh yeah, if you wish to do a little tour of all the amazing sims that Lauren has, there is the list with the links:
Everwinter
Baja Cove
Baja Norte
Baja Bay
Baja Sands
StoryBrooke Gardens

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!