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 ๐Ÿ˜‰

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 ๐Ÿ™‚

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 ๐Ÿ™‚ 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 ๐Ÿ˜‰

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 ๐Ÿ˜‰

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:ย  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

Shades of Purple

TUNES

In the still of the night
Once again I hold you tight
Tho’ you’re gone your love lives on when light beams
And as long as my heart will beat
Sweet lover, we’ll always meet
Here in my deep purple dreams
[Ella Fitzgerald]

Outfit & Accessories

Top: [The Forge] – “Xella” (Maitreya)

Pants: Maddict – “Seren” (Maitreya)

Shoes: [Gos] – “Kendall Boots” (Maitreya)

Gloves: Salt & Pepper – “Winona Gloves” (Maitreya, part of an outfit)

Collar: CURELESS[+] – “Sentinent Collar”

Choker: Mossu – “Temptress Choker Black” (Maitreya)

Earrings: !Rebel Hope – “Tassel Earrings”

Rings: *Bonita* – “Rings Love” (Maitreya, Bento)

Nails: Meva – “Nails 3” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Tansfer” – NEW @ MoM

Makeup: Flair – “Eyeshadow – Sheer” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tattoo: Queen of Ink – “Legend Tattoo”

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

Lashes: Flair – “Eylashes – Diva” (LeLutka Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses: Fairey Poses

Backdrop: FOXCITY – “K-POP Star 2 – Ringa Linga (3)” (Gacha, Rare)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Into the Groove

TUNES

Music can be such a revelation
Dancing around you feel the sweet sensation
We might be lovers if the rhythm’s right
I hope this feeling never ends tonight
[Madonna]

I am a kid of the 80s. Music, fashion and the whole lifestyle is something, I was not really able to enjoy when it happened, as I really was a kid in the 80s and sometimes I wish, I just would have been born a little bit earlier ๐Ÿ˜‰

The 80s fashion did not last too long but it did and as well does influence the fashion trends a lot. The 80s was the time of big fashion icons like Lady Di, Madonna, Cher, Grace Jones and many more big names. Certainly most of the ones I called by name are musicians – I am a musician myself in RL, so that is my personal favorites not only for fashion.

The 80s brought out some really avant garde models and creations. Even today if you ask people – young and old – they remember leggings, shoulder pads, stretch dresses and skirts, leg warmers, graphic tees and certainly vibrant and neon colors. The other side of the coin for the more cool kids was the vinyl, latex, denim, fingerless gloves or oversized top looks.

 

Even if my style would have been a bit darker, more towards the rocker styles of the 80s, when I saw the “Chala Ice Cream” dress, made by Rosary, I immediately wanted to do a color pop style. I had no idea for along time how to illustrate the look I had in my mind, but when I saw the “Debbie” poses from BellePoses with those huge records – I had what it needed ๐Ÿ˜‰

When I was styling and snapping the pics I heard a lot of Madonna and Cyndi Lauper to get the right mood and groove. The last one even wore this kind of colorful stuff mostly paired with waist corsets.

Certainly according to Grace Jones stylings, I had to find some really vibrant and colorful makeup. What better place I could have thought of that Zibska. Zib ha a great sense for strong and bold colors and how to bring them on your face as an incredible makeup.

I am really curious what else will be brought back from the 80s besides leggings and white jeans and some more we already had in summer. The fashion industry already released some A/W 2018 fashion trends and I saw animal prints, western styles with cowboy boots and sequins coming back – lets see what else they will bring back! I am crossing my fingers for some rock or gothic creations *searches for her ripped fingerless gloves*

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: Rosary – “Chala Ice Cream” (Maitreya)

Shoes: UTOPIA@Design – “Alice” (Maitreya)

Earrings: Ticky Tacky – “Lick Me!” (store no longer existing)

Headpiece: :Z.S: – “Retro Headband”

Bangles: :Z.S: – “Cheer Bangles”

Nails: Pink Hustler (*PL*) – “Nail #27” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: Sintiklia – “Mbali”

Makeup: Zibska – “Yumi” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Zibska – “Peake” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Tattoo: Redfish – “Wonderland” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses & Records: BellePoses – “Debbie” (BEnto)

Backdrop: MINIMAL – “KPOP Garage”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

My Decision…

Not too long ago a very close friend of mine, Seaside, was IMing me, asking if I would be ok. First I was wondering why she would ask me that, but then she told me she was following my flickr and the latest, and very dark pictures did concern her. I thought that was very sweet and I tried to explain to her why I do have this super dark and destructive side as well. I was suffering of depressions a very long time of my life and I sometimes still do, but I learning to live and work with them. So if I do those very dark and morbid pictures, to me it is like checking up on an old friend, deep inside of me. This friend will never leave me, but we both learned how to co-exist. I just have to go there sometimes, to check on him and if he still is there in place, where I put him a long time ago. I do not know if that makes sense, but for me it is kinda like therapy and it does work out 90% of the time. The hard times, where I often was close to the moment of giving up, or even tried to give up are gone and that is what counts for me.

For quite some time, I did not want to see that. I thought with medicine, pills and therapy I can make it go away – I just wanted to ‘heal’. After many different attempts to do that, I met a wonderful person, that to me was more valuable than every therapist I ever met before. He was a therapist too, but I did not met him as a patient, I met him at one of my concerts and we became friends over the time. After we met several times we had a discussion about depressions and he gave me a completely new view on it. He told me, depressions would be kinda the same thing as being alcohol addicted, you can fight the symptoms, but not the facts, case or reasons. He stated, that I can decide, if I let the depressions take over my life or if I take control over the depressions. That sounds very easy , but it is not and I probably would not have been able to do that without any help. I was very lucky to have real friends and family, who helped me over the time of the learning process and it was not done in just a few weeks – it took years.

I decided to take control – even if I maybe never will have 100% of control, it made my life way easier that to just give up and live for the depressions. I wanted more from my life that what my depressions would have allowed me to do. But like I said before, sometimes that ‘old friend’ knocks at my door and I have to decide if I let him in, or if I just go out with him for a while or even go visit him at his place, where I can leave him when ever I want.

I know, depressions can be very different and there is no general solution for that, but you always have decision to fight against or to give up – I never won’t judge over someones decision, as either of both is an option to choose and while one can be good for someone, it can be bad for another person.

I hope, I could make sense with my words – English is not my first language ๐Ÿ˜‰

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: Enfant Terrible – “Kimi” (Maitreya)

Boots: Blueberry – “Celia Boots – High Heels” (Maitreya)

Rings: Elle Boutique – “Bloom” (Maitreya, Bento)

Collar: Salt & Pepper – “Slumber Party” (Gacha, Rare)

Hair & Makeup

Hair: no.match – “No.Role”

Makeup: Zibska – “Mina Liner” (LeLutka Applier, Ltd. Gift)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLeutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Tattoo: [White~Widow] – “Anon” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Prop: R.O.T. – “End Nature”

Poses: Foxcity – “Stairs (Sitting)” (Bento)

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Nightcrawler

A&Y Cybernetics again released a breathtaking creation at ROMP!

The new “Aglaya Latex Cyber Corset” is a perfect match to the “Aglaya Latex Cyber Boots”, which I blogged a few days already – I had to wear them again for this post to show off that perfect match.

The corset, as well as the boots, have the typical A&Y HUD to color customize many different parts. I am still amazed, how awesome that HUD works. It kinda already feels cybernetic, when you put the HUD on and then you connect the HUD with the item you want to customize and see the percentage running up to 100%. When it reached the maximum you can choose the part you want to color and then you are able to select what ever color you want depending, which the HUD/pack you bought – either one color with 2 different shades as base color, or you go for the complete fatpack.

I do have to admit cyberpunk is something right down my alley. I love the idea of cybernetic body parts, the vibrant colors paired with black do have a very energetic feeling for me and the idea, that in the future we all will not be perfect anymore and have several mechanical/electronic parts to survive is kinda interesting. That would create a whole new vision of beauty ๐Ÿ™‚

In SL modeling we always were taught to never hide our faces, but for cyber or cyberpunk looks, huge glasses and masks are so much fun! To be honest, I always had a tendency to not listen to “rules” if they did not make sense for me ๐Ÿ˜‰

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: A&Y Cybernetics – “Aglaya Latex Cyber Corset” (Maitreya) – NEW @ ROMP

Gloves: Salt & Pepper – “Winona” (Maitreya, part of an Outfit)

Shoes: A&Y Cybernetics – “Aglaya Latex Cyber Boots” (Maitreya)

Collar: Happy Undead – “Charming Collar”

Mask: DRD – “Tubes Mask – Metallic” (rigged)

Glasses: MINIMAL – “Power Glasses – Black”

Claws: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Obsess Claws” (Maitreya, Bento)

Hair & Makeup

Hair & Hairbase: A&Y Cybernetics – “Cyro Hair” (Hairbase: Omega Applier)

Makeup: Zibska – “Kane ” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Poses & Props

Poses: Poseidon

Location

District 18

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

In the Summertime

TUNES

In the Summertime

We’re not bad people
We’re not dirty, we’re not mean
We love everybody but we do as we please
When the weather’s fine
We go fishin’ or go swimmin’ in the sea
We’re always happy
Life’s for livin’ yeah, that’s our philosophy
[Mungo Jerry]

Outfit & Accessories

Dress: -:zk:- – “Madilyn” (Maitreya)
Necklace: Kunglers – “Mirian”
Bracelets: Kunglers – “Maria”
Rings: Slipper – “Laura” (Maitreya, Bento)
Bag: [sYs] – “Charley” (rigged)
Glasses: Glamistry – “Sunglasses PU2004”

Makeup & Hair

Hair: no.match – “No.Blame” – NEW @ ULTRA
Lipstick: Izzie’s – “Fae Lipgloss” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoo

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”
Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”
Face: Izzie’s – “Pores & Blemishes” (LeLutka Applier)
Tattoo: [White~Widow] – “Lolita-Green” (Maitreya Applier)

Poses & Props

Poses & Hat: BellePoses – “Isis” (Bento)

Location

Model & Photographer

Wicked Nymph

The bodies were still warm
As we awoke
Time look past away
We dragged what was left
As the shores
All just to see death
Burn holes through the black depths
In deliverance at the ocean nymphs
All just to see death
Burn holes through the black depths
And past Saturn’s rings
Such beautiful things
These screaming voices
Of bloodless corpses
Time will take that away
Come to me
With the tales and travels
At the true living dead
Come to me
Legends, gods and mystery
As my brothers in rock send
Secret whispers to thee
Legends, gods, and mystery

[Grade]

Outfit & Accessories

Top: Wicca’s Wardrobe – “Elowen Bra” (Maitreya, Gacha)

Body Particles & Flowers: E.V.E Studio – “Ink Drops Suit” (Gacha) – NEW @ Fantasy Gacha Carnival

Chocker & Cuffs: -SECRETS- – “Helena Slave Chocker”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: [KoKoLoReS] – “Oakes”

Makeup: Zibska – “Agafia Eyemakeup” (LeLutka Applier)

Body & Tattoos

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

Tail:ย ~ Cynefin ~ –ย  “Lorelei Bento Mermaid Tail” (Maitreya)

Scales: :[ET]: – “Kirin Scales – S Light” (Omega Applier)

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Ears: .:E.A.Studio:. – “Meraxes Ears”

Eyes: ANATOMY – “Opal Eyes – Dark”

Lashes: Stardust – “Kira” (LeLutka Applier)

Teeth: LeLutka – “Beast Teeth”

Poses & Props

Poses are a mixture of the ~ Cynefin ~ tail poses and some playing with the AnyPose tool for the upper body

Statues: E.V.E Studio – ” “Ballerina” Ink Drops [FATPACK – M01] ” – NEW @ The Enchantment

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Wicca’s Wardrobe @ ROMP August 2018

Wicca’s Wardrobe @ ROMP (August 11th – 25th)

For this round of ROMP we have the very revealing Layla body.. This unique ensemble puts a whole knew spin on “barely there”. It is striking and provocative and will certainly make those around you sit up and take notice. The Layla body is a one-piece original creation that comes with a HUD that offers you 10 colors and 6 metals. Our Layla body is designed to fit Maitreya only.

Taxi: ROMP – Elegant Kink

Cheeky Bunny

I do not know what it is, but something changed in the past month for me when it comes to taking pictures. I worry about a lot of things, I never thought about before, I do like playing with lights, projectors and “no light” or “low light” windlight settings. The less light you have around you, the more control you get about the lights around you. In the past I first chose my windlight and then added one or two lights or projectors – lately I do it the other way round. I first set up my lights and then look for a windlight, that supports my idea. In the beginning it felt weird to set up out of the darkness, but it becomes better with each try. As well I discovered different desires, which I would like to have for my pictures and so I started a few new “learning projects”. I watched a lot of tutorials, practiced a lot and learned many new things.

One project that started – I tried to start that, since my vacation had begun – was to paint hair. I do have a graphic tablet forever but besides using it for textures I never touched it for pictures, as my mouse felt so much better with that. But try to paint hair with your mouse.. even if you really think you can control your mouse perfectly, but things like the pen pressure, I only get with the tablet. I forced myself to play with it and watched many tutorials. Slowly it starts working, but it really needs a lot of practice and I am not yet ready to show it offย  more than a few strands of hair ๐Ÿ˜‰

To not loose my motivation, I started to play with some ready made hair strands and wisps as well as hair brushes for Photoshop, as those as well helped me a lot to understand the basic hair drawing. When I found the strands from Rayne Morgan, I was completely speechless. I rarely saw such a well drawn hair in all it’s details and if you are willing to credit her work, she even offers a few free downloads on her Deviantart site (https://www.deviantart.com/raynemorgan).

There I found some interesting ready made hair as well for instant use. I always had wondered, how some photographers were able to paint or photograph hair and have such amazing results on Flickr. When I saw the website of Rayne Morgan… I immediately did know how a few did that ๐Ÿ˜‰

It is really breathtaking how that hair can change a Second Life picture like it did for the closeup above. You get the hair as a PSD file. You are able to color and as well warp it, until it matches your Second Life snapshot. I could not resist, to even work on that one by adding some more wisps and paint some little strands myself. It is not the end of my hair-paint experiences, as I really want to archive painting my own hair completely one day, but I wanted to share the progress and as well the way of keeping up my motivation to do so ๐Ÿ™‚

Outfit & Accessories

Outfit: //Ascend// – “Diora” (Maitreya) – NEW @ The Fetish Fair 2018 – 2nd Edition

Panty: .:Avanti:. – “Adara Panty” (Maitreya)

Shoes: UTOPIA@Design – “Jora” (Maitreya)

Hand & Rings: [Since1975] – “No Mercy Rings” (Maitreya, Bento)

Mask: FnH – “Bunny Mask”

Earrings: Elle Boutique – “Jaclyn Earring”

Hair & Makeup

Hair: Besom – “Piggy Bank”

Makeup: Zibska – “Radi Eyemakeup” (LeLutka Applier)

Lipstick: Izzie’s – “Metallic Lipsticks” (LeLutka Applier)

Hair for Closeup: Rayne Morgan

Head & Body

Head: LeLutka – “Simone 3.0”

Body: Maitreya – “Lara 4.1”

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

Legs: Zibska – “Wild Thang” (Maitreya Applier) – NEW @ TheSecret Affair

Poses & Props

Poses: Foxcity

Set:

Couch: [Ds] – “Contempo Ladies Chaise” – NEW @ The Fetish Fair 2018 – 2nd Edition

Lamp: Trompe Loeil – “Wiggle Modern Light”

Statue: NOMAD – “Bright Headed Mannequin C”

Mirror: [Figure 8] – “Narcissus Mirror Silver”

Model & Photographer

Wicca Merlin

Wicca’s Wardrobe @ The Secret Affair August 2018

Wicca’s Wardrobe @ The Secret Affair August 2018 – Sepetmber 5th

Panic at the Zoo is the theme for this round of The Secret Affair. We let our inner fashion beast out with the Minerva Claws, a must-have statement piece of jewelry for your SL inventory! The Minerva Claws HUD gives you a wide array of options. Not only do you have 6 metal and 6 gemstone colors, you can choose which parts of the claws you want to show or hide. That includes all fingers parts, the connector on the hand and as well the bracelet. You also have the option to wear the claws only on one hand or on both hands, all via the HUD. The Minerva HUD provides so many options we had to make it a two-sided HUD! You can try out the Minerva Claws at the event, so you can get a taste of how versatile they are before you buy.

The Minverva Claws are made for Maitreya Lara Bento only.

Taxi: The Secret Affair