The 2017 Hair Fair Photo Contest!

Posted on June 18, 2017 by Three Knots | 1 Comment

I’ve been busy over the past few days, while recovering from this annoying injured thumb on my left (dominant) hand, working on some photographs for the 2017 Hair Fair Photo Contest.

Hair Fair is one of my favourite events of the year. Because duh! Hair! And I’m lucky enough to have early blogger access again this year, so I’ll spend lots of money and show you super cool hairs!

Every year, Hair Fair sponsors a photo contest, and I often enter it. This year I’ve done five photos, and that’s the limit. I’m sorry, judges.

The link above is to the official notice about the contest; the theme was “Wild”, and the idea was to picture hair colours that aren’t in the usual, naturally available human range. This post has been half written for two days in hopes I could get it done ahead of the contest deadline, but I’m afraid I haven’t managed it, and I’ll just have to do a better job next year.

Here’s the first of my Hair Fair Photo Contest entries for this year.

Joy!

Hairstyle—Corumel (Summer Hair Play)
Hair Store—Tableau Vivant
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa Lona
Skin: Lumae Adore Ianthe
Eyes: Mesange Iskander
Ears: Lumae Leevi Long Ears
Silks: Axix, Heaven Silks Purple
Butterflies: Nantra
Location: White Owl Island

I initially wanted to photograph Gwyneth scrying something, with her hair all over the place, but the minute I put this hair on I knew I wanted her in the water somehow. There were numerous false starts with this photograph, because I kept wanting her to be attacked by a sea monster– but things kept going wrong. And we just won’t talk about that time the giant undulating tentacle ended up off the shores of White Owl Island….

Here’s number two:

Who Shall I Be Tomorrow?

Hairstyle—Joga
Hair Store—Analog Dog
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa, Lona
Skin: 7 Deadly s{K}ins, Farrah
Body Glitter: Izzies, Rainbow body glitter
Eyes: Mesange, Iskander
Ears: Swallow, Elf Ears High Definition
Dress: This Is Wrong, Owls Dress
Wings: BareRose, Black B Wings
Jewellery: EMO-tions, Falcon Earrings and Necklace

So, most of you guys know I love Analog Dog Hair. I knew I wanted to showcase at least one of Queue Marlowe‘s beautiful hair designs in these photographs. I picked this one, Joga, because it’s relatively new, and because it’s whimsical without being silly, and because I loved the way the green and red work together in this colour. Beloved took me on a date to Calas Galadhon, and I remembered having taken some photographs there yonks ago. I came back there for this one, and I was so pleased with the light (and the fact that “The Owls are not what they seem” shows up pretty well in the photograph on this photo. Of course, after I’d taken it through the whole editing process, I discovered that the hair is clipping the wing. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t noticed that… I’d already entered the photograph when I suddenly saw the imperfection, and now I can’t unsee it. So it stays, because otherwise it’s a good photo, and I love so many things about it.

Miles Away

This third photo features hair from another one of my favourite designers, Wasabi Pills. Raven was released for this years’ Fantasy Faire, and I’ve worn it a lot. I wanted to do something like a portrait for one of the entries, and I wanted to investigate a region I hadn’t shot in before. So off I went to Phabolaois Stran. I love water sims, rain sims, and this one did not disappoint. I will be back again, I’m sure. I spent a lot of time waiting for this group of birds to un-clump so I could photograph them recognisably, which is probably why I left them in, rather than cropping them out to yield a stronger photograph. I still like the way the hair colour looks against the landscape.

Hairstyle—Raven
Hair Store—Wasabi Pills
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa, Lona
Skin: Lumae, Ruby
Eyes: Mesange, Iskander
Ears: Swallow, Elf Ears High Definition
Clothes: Yasum, Boho Skirt and Top
Necklace: The Plastik, The Grolda Necklace
Circlet, Cae, Lasa Circlet

Pink

Pink, like most of these, is not the photograph I started out trying to take at all. Elikatira‘s Lalora, don’t get me wrong, is every bit as gorgeous today as when it was released last year. I did want to take at least one photo in White Owl’s Faerie, but the original plan was for this shot to have some softness to it, and I’m not sure it does, in the end. She looks determined, maybe even angry. Her hand is tense. The sunset lighting makes her look if anything more like she’s just made a battle plan. That said, while I know a lot of SL people who do not like these wings, I absolutely love them, I have them in every colour they were released in, and I do not get the chance to photograph them very often. I love how perfectly they match the pink of her hair, how they echo the makeup. And I like the way she really does pop against the landscape.

Hairstyle—Lalora
Hair Store—Elikatira
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa, Lona
Skin: Lumae, Ruby
Eyes: Mesange, Iskander
Ears: Swallow, Elf Ears High Definition
Wings: Alegria, Wings of Cotton Pink
Dress: MoonAmore, Sugar Branches Dress
Makeup: Picchi, Sweet Fairy Makeup

Take Off

Some things I cannot resist, and one of those things is going back and hoping to fix my mistakes. The thing is, Calas Galadhon doesn’t allow object rezzing and I couldn’t find a group to join that would let me do that, so placement wasn’t and couldn’t be perfect. And, you know, there’s only so much time in the day, and so I decided to go with something different. I love that this shot gives you the whole scope of the wings, and I did at least remember the windlight I used, which is a far sight better than I usually do here in Chaos-land. There were some birds around, as in previous shots, but I didn’t worry about them overmuch as they were a long way away and the focal bird would be the one wearing these beautiful wings from BareRose.

Style cards are above in the text. Farrah is available at Vintage Fair!

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Moonlight And Ravens

Posted on March 11, 2017 by Three Knots | Leave a comment

Things just appear.

Things just appear. I guess it goes back to that idea of thoughts being things that I was thinking about yesterday when I discovered the greenhouse. This Realm isn’t growing on its own and coming up fully formed, the way the Wylds did around Janus and me. It’s both more structured and more organic. I pass a place and say, ‘Hm, there should be a tea shop here or something’, and a few days later I’ll notice there’s a tea shop there. That’s a lame example, especially with what I’m about to tell you, but it’s at least simple.

Last night, I was walking the Realm, and I came across this gorgeous tower, just kind of sitting there, lonely on the edge of the water but for the ravens circling it as if it were some kind of beacon. There was a low, pink, full moon that just made me smile. The structure itself reminded me of my old garden bower in the Wylds. I must go back there sometime soon. I began to miss my bower, but more than that, I know I have obligations. I don’t like obligations, and I don’t think I’m very good at fulfilling them, but I also know Mornoth is counting on me, so off I’ll go. Maybe next week. Maybe in a fortnight. But sometime before Beltainne.

I climbed to the top of the tower…

I climbed to the top of the tower, and suddenly there were ravens swooping everywhere! The moon lit up the clouds, and it seemed the clouds lit up the sky, and there I was, with one raven pecking his head off on the low tower kerb (is it a kerb? I don’t know much about tower architecture, but we’ll call it that!), and it felt like fifty others just randomly swooping down.

I don’t know what possessed me to wear these heels while I was walking around the Realm. They’re not practical. But then, I’m not practical. And a bubble dress is not practical. And ravens aren’t practical, and my own wings aren’t practical, and we could go on until we come to the moon Herself not being practical, and then we’d have insulted a goddess and we’d be answerable to Her, and there would be repercussions.

But something, something about the tint of the moon, got me thinking along another path.

But something, something about the tint of the moon, got me thinking along another path. What if, what if, as I manifest things round my Realm, as I walk into the future (as we are all walking into the future), what if every moment is a portent?

Then, I felt the cold spring wind, and I looked toward the gothic structure I’d climbed.

Then, I felt the cold spring wind, and I looked toward the gothic structure I’d climbed. What if every moment is a portent? Stone and spires, trees and ravens, and somehow, yesterday’s growing roses all sifted together in my mind, in my heart, and left me longing for a place I’ve never been. A place where ravens perch and wheel. A place where vines climb like tenacious spirits, like growing souls, ever upwards. A place where dawn meets the moon. A place where roses weep. What sort of place might that be? I pictured myself walking down its wide paths, touching the stones with my hands, pricking my finger on a thorn. And then the funniest thing happened. When I looked down at my hand, there was blood. The raven before me, focused solely on his dinner, did not look up. The ravens above my shoulders did not respond. There were no caws or cries against the wind and the moon at the sight of my blood, fae blood, the kind of blood that can make addicts of vampires and lovestruck puppets of men. I placed my bleeding finger on the stone. And it seemed to me, though I know I did not see it, that a rose grew there.

And I longed, I did, for a place I’ve never been.

And I longed, I did, for a place I’ve never been. A place that may not even exist—yet.

A place where Ravens Perch.

Style Card:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa, Lona Bento Mesh Head
Hair: Alice Project, Mikayla (Available NOW at Hairology!)
Eyes: Mesange, Bering Eyes (Omega Appliers) (Available NOW at We ❤ Roleplay!)
Ears: Swallow, Elf Ears High Definition
Skin: Lumae, Ella, for Catwa (Available NOW at Skin Fair!)
Hands: Vista, Bento Prohands
Necklace: Rozoregalia, Alugim, Dark Gold
Dress: Bender, Agra Dress, Grey (Available NOW at On9!)
Wings: Lassitude & Ennui, Bento Fairy Wings, Gold/ Purple (Available NOW at We ❤ Roleplay!)
Shoes: ChicChica, Clotilde, Gold

Scene:
Tower: Rivendale, Gothic Tower
Ravens close to Gwyneth: Axix, from the LadyCrow pose set
Swooping Ravens: aQ creating lifestyles, Ravens
Flying Ravens: Souled Out, Free Roaming Murder of Crows
Big Red Tree: Hayabusa Design, Old Tree
Pink Moon: Medieval Fantasy, Giant Full Moon
SimSurround: Landscapes Unlimited, Rolling Hills Large Skybox Environment

Spiffy photos taken with the indispensible aid of my LumiPro. I’d never foreshadow the 2017 Fantasy Faire without it!

The Blessing of the Bread

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Three Knots | 1 Comment

Gwyneth:

Queen, Protector, Priestess, Sorceress, Storyteller, Guardian, Faery, Elf, Myth: I am all these things. For the denizens of the Wylds, I am the representative of light, the definition of beauty, the walking guise of Love Itself.

And so we come to Lughnasadh. Lammas. First Harvest. The Commemoration of Lugh. And the villagers bring me their loaves to bless, mortal and Fae alike, and there are games and tests of strength and mental agility, and the day is golden with barleycorn and wheat, dark with the promise of autumn, and bright with cider apples

We begin at sunrise, which at least comes a little later now it’s August.

Nevertheless, it is a long day

Nevertheless, it is a long day.

I am called to bless basket after basket of new bread.

I am called upon to bless basket after basket of new bread, some of it hot from the oven, some of it hard from travelling, a symbol only of those who must come from far away.

Barrels of grain and buckets of apples, all must be blessed.

And we feast.

So much feasting!

The crows come, with their brothers the ravens, to remind us of the darkening year.

And any who would be wise must listen to them well.

Although my feet do not touch the ground, I am with the folk all day. For someone as energised by solitude as I am, this is a daunting prospect. I am glad to have my trusted advisors, my Consort, and the demifae with me. Kern warms my shoulders with glamour; Cutie makes me drink, quite a lot.

Every song an invocation, every word an acclimation.

Be you blessed, travellers, and sing the sun around
Call the harvest bounty from autumn’s hardening ground
At your festival, sound the horn, calling the people again
Child of barleycorn, newly summer-born
Ripening like the grain, oh
Ripening like the grain

Style Card:
Body: Maitreya
Head: Catwa, Destiny
Ears: Logo, Expressive Elf Ears (with appliers from Lumae)
Eyes: Mesange, Kelpie Eyes (Omega appliers)
Skin: Lumae, Sabine, T4 Fawn / Starlight (A preview, available as part of the Marketplace Buy Now event)
Hair: Emo-Tions, Leni
Headpiece: Lode, Vesna (dry aged)
Dress: Silvan Moon Designs, Lady Nioniel Elven Gown (Coming soon to We ❤ RP!)
Shoes: Deviance, Milady’s Slippers, Spring
Poses (in order):
Plume: Regal 5
F*cking Ninjas: Water Willer 2
Picture This: Summoner 2
Axix: Lady Crow 7
Axix: Lady Crow 1
Picture This: Magi 1
Picture This: Summoner 2
Gate: Ionic, Pagan Poetry Stone Gate (rare!)
Barley: Organica, Barley Field Dry
Baskets of Corn & Apples: Distorted Dream Designs
Basket of Bread for Blessing: Dust Bunny, Wanderlust Bread Basket
Bread Loves in a Bucket: Ionic, Loaf of Bread