Nude or Naked? – A Tribute to Flora Borsi

The past weeks/months I was allowed to be part of the latest VISIONAIRE batch. VISIONAIRE offers classes/workshops for inworld photography. When I first told a few friends, that I am excited about VISIONAIRE, they asked me why I would want to go there. I would already do pictures for such a long time and as well, I would work with Photoshop and could do PS tutorials instead.

I tried to tell them, that I am working on my own for such a long time and that I kinda felt stuck in my own world with my pictures. I love going to schools and workshops and learn new things or even get pointed out some things that I might have forgotten over the time. I do not know how to describe it, but it is like even if you know things, you can forget about them so easy and with classes and workshops you get a sweet reminder. Sometimes you learn something, you cannot use it right away and then you forget about it, even if it would be very useful for something else. Sometimes you try things and you do not like it at all and feel overchallenged at the moment you practice, but after some time you might be able to work it out, but you forgot about. And in the end it is always great if you get some critique on your work, that most of the time will encourage you to try better in my view.

I was very excited when we met the first time – I nearly was nervous, because the classes were going to be in voice and I am always afraid, to not able to follow properly if it comes to technical terms and stuffs. Soon I realized, I am not the only non native speaker, which made it a little easier. When I started to cam around, I again got scared seeing some big names beside me and I nearly fell for the same weird question I was asked “What they are doing here, they are so good!” :p But since I had my own reasons to do the course, I scratched that thought quickly 😉

The classes, even if they took hours, were awesome. For many weeks, Sundays were completely dedicated to that chatty, funny and passionated people and I do not regret one minute. I have to admit, I felt strange sometimes and again the old discussion “it is because you are unique – it is because you are special” came up and I wanted to quit. I hate that term!!! There is times where you just want to be one of many and not the one, that stands out because of weird thoughts and craziness. I remember one Sunday, where we were supposed to look at pictures to find the spot in the picture, where our eyes where pulled at and then explain why. You start to get frustrated, if your eyes mostly get attracted by other things than the rest of the group sees…

I really had moments, where I thought I am just too stupid, or too weird to understand/see things. So I started to remain silent – Certainly Wren and Koko caught that and asked me why and told me that this would not be the solution. Since I am not a kid, I was aware of that and I tried to explain my problem. Wren was very understanding and I have to say she was so striving to calm me down and back into the ‘chat mode’. It took me a week to get back on track, but since we had fun homeworks all week, it was easy to step back into the group – they made it super easy for me too and did not even bring it up again.

Home work always sounds bad, but in case of VISIONAIRE they were amazing as the challenged me every week and go me out of my ‘same procedure like always’ mode, which kinda crept into my photography habit. It sometimes dragged me out if my comfort zone and made me re-think a lot of things not only technique wise, but as well composition wise 🙂

It was interesting to get critique and opinions for the home work every week. Sometimes I did not even think about things, that others saw in my pictures. Again the old term “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” made its point 🙂 Even the never ending story “Why this picture of mine got so many faves while the other – which I personally like so much more – got less likes” got touched and Koko had some very interesting ideas to that subject, which again gave me a new perspective – Did you ever think about, if you do pictures with male or female gaze, or what even would be the difference on that in terms of art and photography?

Another great part was the using of glow, lights and projectors. While I hate glow, I always liked using projectors and lights but I never was able to really use them to their full beauty. I normally used 1 or 2 lights or projectors, not thinking about the fact that I could have more to highlight certain parts of the body, even certain spots of the whole scenery. In the past lights and projectors were my personal “OMG that never does what it should” overchallenging situations and I usually gave up on them. BUT if you have a homework… you damn try :p.

In one of the classes, when our home work was to create a portrait. Linda Reddevil, did one being inspired by Flora Borsi. I saw some of her pictures already, but I never was familiar with that artist. When Linda brought her up, I googled again and was so impressed that I wanted to to a picture inspired by Flora Borsi.

It was luck, that to the same time Jian has their amazing flamingos at the FLF and so I took it as a sign and started to work on my idea. While I was doing the shoot, my mind went back to a subject we had at our VISIONAIRE meetings as well. A discussion about an ongoing trend in SL or on SL Flickr pictures – nudity. It seems if you throw and press your private parts into peoples faces, you get a lot of favorites on Flickr. I never was against nudity in arts in general, as long as it was done with class and not only or all of the time. There is much more, what can appeal sexy, than just simple show-offs in a crude way. Does it really have to show ‘everything’ all of them time? Is sometimes not just a basis idea the key to let the imagination fly? I remember very well a scene of movie, where people still going on about, if you see something or not. The interrogation scene in Basic Instinct, which is probably the most famous scene of that movie. The moment where Sharon Stone switching her one leg over the other, so many people did rewind that moment, to see if she would have panties on or not and we still do not know, because we saw… nothing, while the imagination was taking off.

Maybe it is because I am a German. I know it is not everywhere like this, but in Germany, if you strip naked on a public media source (internet, magazines, Youtube, etc.), you need back some more attention to your person. In 90% of the time it is done by people, who suffer from fading popularity or fading fame. Before they become an extinct star on the sky of fame, they do that as a last try to get back into social media and in the heads of the people. For a while it works, but it basically for most is just to protract, what anyways will come and they just win a certain period of time before it happens. That is one of the reasons, why I never even thought about having my boobies all over my Flickr, as well I never had the desire to share that with everyone, even if it is just pixels. To me nude does NOT have to be naked all the time 😉

With Flora Borsi in the back of my head, I started experimenting with my naked body and the flamingos, how I could show everything and nothing the same time. Since I even wanted to try again to draw hair, I even was bold. I only had changed my lashes to something unusual, while my whole body and head was completely nude and natural. They key was a pose I got from Falbala Fairey called “Crouched 6”. It previously was a gift for a store and now it is back in her own store for sale. With that pose and pushing the flamingos in the right position I only needed a pillow to sit on and I was done.

Drawing hair still is a huge, exciting and time consuming project for me and again I was not yet even close to be satisfied with what I tried, so I again did lend me some instant painted hair to work with from Rayne Morgan aka Nina Rosario (in SL), only added a few strands of my own on those spots, that did not quite fit to my pose or avatar shape and colored it to match the flamingos.

I had a lot of fun working on the concept and the pictures and I hope I did make sense with my words as well. I am not just a prude German, I just prefer artistic and tasteful nude over just blunt views on others private parts on social media 😉

Special thanks to Linda Reddevil for making me looking deeper into Flora Borsi’s art again and VISIONAIRE for their amazing course!

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Face: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)

Hair:  Rayne Morgan (modified & complemented by me)

Lashes: Stardust – “Kira” (LeLutka Applier)

Pose: Fairey Poses – “Crouched 6”

Animals: JIAN – “Flamingo Collection”

Pillow: Le Poppycock – “Book Lovers – Tell Me a Story”

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

Lady in Red? Featuring Azul & EMO-tions

Azul 1red

Lady in Red

I’ve never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight
I’ve never seen you shine so bright
I’ve never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance
Looking for a little romance, given half a chance
I have never seen that dress you’re wearing
Or the highlights in your hair that catch your eyes
I have been blind

Azul 2

Lady in red is dancing with me, cheek to cheek
There’s nobody here, it’s just you and me, it’s where I wanna be
But I hardly know this beauty by my side
I’ll never forget, the way you look tonight

I’ve never seen you looking so gorgeous as you did tonight
I’ve never seen you shine so bright, you were amazing
I’ve never seen so many people wanna be there by your side
And when you turned to me and smiled, it took my breath away
I have never had such a feeling
Such a feeling of complete and utter love, as I do tonight

Azul 3

Lady in red is dancing with me, cheek to cheek
There’s nobody here, it’s just you and me, it’s where I wanna be
But I hardly know this beauty by my side
I’ll never forget, the way you look tonight
I never will forget, the way you look tonight

The lady in red
The lady in red
The lady in red
My lady in red (I love you.)

[Chris de Burgh]

Azul 4

Details

Dress (incl Choker): Azul – “Yves” – NEW
Shoes: [MODA] – “Tessa Knee High Boots”
Hair: EMO-tions – MARTINA – NEW @ Hairfair 2016
Bag: 22769 ~ [femme] – “Veronica Handbag”
Glasses: Glamistry – “Sunglasses PU2003”
Ring: alme Jewelry – “Leaves Ring”
Makeup: Veechi – “Sleuth Shadows”
Lipstick: Zibska – “Winterberries”
Poses: Devilish Poses

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

LOTD 07/19/2016 – Today @ GizzA

GizzA Urban 1

Today I was in a very casual mood when I put on my clothes for my GizzA shift.

GizzA Urban 4

The cool “Emma Bib Overall” is one of the latest releases from GizzA. The used optic of the ‘retro washed’ version are totally my thing with the lightly urban but still trendy look. I completed The outfit with the “Lucy Tank” in ‘lemon’, which exactly mirrored my mood today 😉

GizzA Urban 2

Sometimes you do not even feel like you wanna put on makeup and since I wanted a real simple casual look, I went without any makeup. The super awesome hair comes from EMO-tions. Who does not dream of such a long and still great looking braided hairstyle? For today’s look it was just perfect 😉

The accessories are from Elysium and the leather strings kinda repeated the amazing ‘rasta look’ of the hair style and they did not overlay the whole style too much.

And now… time to work!

GizzA Urban 3

Details

Pants: GizzA – “Emma Bib Overall” – NEW

Top: GizzA – “Lucy Tank”

Shoes:[sys] – “Vertigo”

Hair: EMO-tions – “Valentina”

Jewelry: Elysium – “Ichtaca”

Poses: Devilish Poses

Location: Dead End

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

GizzA Urban 5

FEROSH Fashion Weekend Summer 2016 – Ladies who Lunch

The time has come again for another outstanding Ferosh Fashion Weekend! We’re ready to reset the bar for what it means to bring virtual fashion to Second Life® and beyond. We hope that you will join us for a jam packed weekend of HIGH fashion with our amazing Ferosh Designers, Photographers, Supermodels, and models. Come dress to impress! Let’s create something beautiful together. Let’s become Ferosh!

THE RETAIL AREA WILL BE OPEN UNTIL JULY THE 14TH!!!

HERE IS YOUR PERSONAL LIMO!!!

Details

Outfit: Ladies who Lunch [LWL] – “Ursula” – NEW @ Ferosh Fashion Weekend

Shoes: Ladies who Lunch [LWL] – “Basta Platform” – NEW @ Ferosh Fashion Weekend

Headpiece: Death Row Designs – “Dead Religion Headdress”

Hair: epoque – “Warrior”

Poses: Devilish Poses

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

FEROSH Fashion Weekend Summer 2016 – Petite Mort

The time has come again for another outstanding Ferosh Fashion Weekend! We’re ready to reset the bar for what it means to bring virtual fashion to Second Life® and beyond. We hope that you will join us for a jam packed weekend of HIGH fashion with our amazing Ferosh Designers, Photographers, Supermodels, and models. Come dress to impress! Let’s create something beautiful together. Let’s become Ferosh!

THE RETAIL AREA WILL BE OPEN UNTIL JULY THE 14TH!!!

HERE IS YOUR PERSONAL LIMO!!!

Details

Pants: Petite Mort – “Clean MedwashBF Jeans – NEW @ Ferosh Fashion Weekend

Top: Petite Mort – “White Chiffon Halter” – NEW @ Ferosh Fashion Weekend

Jacket: Petite Mort – “Busted Moto Jacket” – NEW @ Ferosh Fashion Weekend

Shoes: Petite Mort – “Bella Stiletto Pump” – NEW @ Ferosh Fashion Weekend

Glasses: Steinwerk – “Fee”

Hair: enVOUGE – “Renesmee”

Poses: Devilish Poses

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

Sunny Day with *agapee* & Eclipse

agapee 1

The sun comes out more and more and I just had to do another Spring post today 😉

I was experimenting some more with my new mesh head I got, but to be honest I did not yet found anything new. So I will focus on the amazing dress, which I got from *agapee* and  the cool boots made by Eclipse.

agapee 5

The amazing “Jean Outfit” is a real spring ensemble. With the sweet long-sleeved top, decorated by that little scarf, and the wonderful belted skirt with the delicate lace part in the front, it is perfect for the first warm sun beams.

The outfit comes with a HUD to change the colors of the short and the scarf to 6 different ones, so that you can customize the whole outfit perfectly to your very own likings.

agapee 2

The super cute hairstyle comes from Truth and was made for the actual round of The Fantasy Collective.

For the pictures, I wanted something sweet and modern, to complement the outfit itself. When I was lately doing some sim hopping, I discovered a residential sim called “Mataiva”. The name for the place is “The Iconic Spell”.

“The Ionic Spell is what remains of a little village devastated by a large solar storm.. For 10 years the people have lived without electricity and looked for ways to restore the light.The community is close and we must stick together to find the answer”

That is the description which I found in the sim description field. On the first view you won’t see the destructions, as most of the sim look like, as if the residents have rebuilt it, but some corners still show the basic idea. It is a fantastic place to walk around and enjoy the love to the detail, the people put in here to create this wonderful little world.

I am sure I will return to this awesome place to discover some more interesting corners for future pics and posts 😉

agapee 4

Details

Outfit: *agapee* – “Jean Outfit”

Boots: Eclipse – “Oh Me”

Hair: Truth – “Tierney” – NEW @ The Fantasy Collective

Body: Slink – “Physique”

Head: Catwa – “Jessica”

Freckles: Le Forme – “Beauty Moles II V3”

Eyes: Ikon – “Hope Eyes”

Poses: Devilish Poses

Location: The Iconic Spell

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

agapee 3

Trendy Oversized by [sys]

sys 1

After a busy and wonderful fashion weekend, today I would like to showcase one of my favourite designers in SL.

The amazing [sys] sisters again made a fashion statement with the absoulte fabulous “Sully” ensemble. The huge and wide overcoat in beige and the waist high and wide pants in grey, are available in a standart fitmesh size and as well for all the popular mesh bodies.

sys 3

To complete my urban look I added the “Pointed Booties” made by Garbaggio and the “Eyewear Fox No.2” from HAYSURIZA.

The amazing “Axiom” necklace as well was made by [sys].

sys 2

Details

Coat & Pants: [sys] – “Sully”

Shoes: Garbaggio – “Pointed Booties”

Glasses: HAYSURIZA – “Eyewear Fox No.2” @ On9

Hair: enVogue – “Clarissa”

Poses: Devilish Poses

Location: Virtual Decay

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

LOTD 09/26/2015 – Back in Black with Devilish Poses

Black 03

Yes, I cannot deny it… I love black…

I was standing on my platform after finishing all my daily work and started to dig into my inventory to sort some stuff and trash some of the older things I never will wear again… like… hair from 2009 and shoes from 2011 with weird bare feet and funny toes*giggles*

Then you sometimes come across boxes… that you never opened, but certainly you had to buy them…

Now the fun starts. Unpacking and again making the inventory looking like a hot mess 😉

Black 02

But the good thing is you usually find some hidden treasure you do not even remember, that you bought them.

So it was with the “Luminea” headpiece from Black Pearls. I got it at the Fantasy Collective a few month ago and totally forgot about it… like ever so often…

 The “Luminea” headpiece is one of those accessories that sneaked right into my heart. The amazing leather straps across the face the sweet chains that hold it together on the top and the huge fins that give the whole piece an abstract and fantasy touch.

Inspired by the headpiece I thought of a basic black look to let the headpiece stick out even more. I kept opening boxes and got one surprise after another…

That will be a few more posts in the future I guess *giggles*

The next part what fell in my hands was the “Biker Chest” from May’s Soul. I just used the collar part and skipped the shoulder pads for this post, that belong to the whole pack. With the long leather fringes it definitely made an interesting accessory.

Black 01

Now the difficulties began… since I am not a friend of being naked without a reason for styling posts, I had to find pants and a top that fits under that great collar. Pants was realtivly easy as I love my leather leggings from Maitreya. For the shoes I decided to go with the “Bella Heels” from KC for the slink high mesh feet. The shoes come with a HUD, that lets you choose from different colors for the metals and the shoe.

Now I still needed a top or a jacket that does not interfere with the long fringes of the collar. I guess, I tried about 20 before I came across the “Leather Asymetrical Jacket” from ISON.

 It matched perfectly to the while look and added a slightly elegant touch to it 🙂

Last but not least I chose something for my hands to break the black. The “Ringblume” hand accessories from FORMANAILS.

Now before I am done for today, I would like to drag your focus on the poses I used today. The poses are all made of Linda Reddevil. She recently opened her store Devilish Poses and makes some amazing runway poses. They are somewhat special and a little bot more out of the box that usual. I like them very much as they totally go along with my feeling for modern and fresh posing 😉

After all the looks is kinda modern, elegant and dark abstract… exactly what I like 😉

 Black 04

Details

Top: ISON – “Leather Asymmetrical Jacket”

Pants: Maitreya – “Leather Skinny Pants”

Shoes: .::KC::. “Bella”

Collar: May’s Soul – Biker Chest”

Hand Jewelry: FORMANAILS – “Ringblume-2”

Head Piece: Black Pearl – “Luminea”

Hair: Baiastice – “Spagna”

Makeup: Arise – “Scale Facetattoo” & Corvus – “Fighter Eyeshadow”

Lipstick: blackliquid – “Lip Line”

Poses: Devilish Poses

Model & Photographer: Wicca Merlin

OGlam Presents: OGlam Model Search 2012

(Photographer: Badon Rain, Model: Wicca Merlin)

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