I was feeling extremely “summery” today and told myself I would do a normal photo shoot, nothing extraordinary, no shiny outfits or glittery lights, no sassy backgrounds, just me on a beach. Apparently it’s my thing at this point to take photos that are a little “extra” and I suppose my lack of outside editing skill is just pro at this point – or otherwise everyone’s eyes would be struggling.
It’s difficult to tell you all about opinions regarding upcoming Second Life patches, drama or other irrelevant subjects. I’ve always been more of a poet, and it was also how I expressed my opinions, rather than whining for a billion hours and then another two for good measures. I don’t have anything to say. I’ve come to a point in my life where being “online” means I’m checking who else is or doing my required hours at the club I work at. Being online hasn’t been about hanging out or shopping lately, because I’ve no one to do those with. I take pictures alone, and then I log out. I play League of Legends or am preoccupied with the stress of my two newfound hamsters. (I got two baby boys)
So for tonight you will have to do with my summer photo shoot of 2019.
Merry summermas yall.
See you again the next time I feel like doing poetry or photography.
REACH OUT TO ME THROUGH OUR DISCORD IF YOU WANT TO DO A PHOTO SHOOT!
Talula Shippe is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Minneapolis, MN (US). Initially involved the performing arts, Talula was waylaid in her pursuits by a physical injury and turned for visual arts for self expression.
About the artist
La boite blanche, stands for the white box. It is a translation of the art gallery I today visited, and partially a soft statement to how beautiful the images I saw there – were. The white box art gallery is a collective room of photos taken by Talula Shippe in Second Life, as well as poetry written by her. Below I will analyze a few pieces of art I saw today, and leave both my comments and other thoughts.
The first image that captured me is the one you see above, a shot she calls ‘The Balcony’ and the girl with a home of her own. The petals of flowers, of songless birds, flying through the air – yet the girl looks sad, tears on her cheeks, as if not everything was fair.
This shot caught my attention for the beautifully set scene for a shot. The way the petals float in the air, and her hair flows in the wind, I can do nothing but appreciate the fact she took the time to make this piece of art happen – to find the correct wind light, the pose, the angle and the props, even the clothes and shadows seem correctly placed. It’s always a mystery to see this type of visual art presented by others, when one can only really speculate what was going through the artists mind, however I’d like to believe this photo shows a certain longing and sadness along with beauty that has been left behind. Or maybe she just has allergies?
A Blustery Day, by Talula Shippe – L$150
Now accompanied by feathers, soft and light, she gazes into the distance, with hope and might. That perhaps one day – her love will arrive, from the shores far away into the land far and wide.
‘A blustery day’ beautifully captures the innocence of a young girl in what I associate as Paris. Her well made braids and cute pink clothes. Her naive youth gives a flare to the image that my little negative side wants to point out, but will not. Her outfit is greatly thought out and the faint rain shows in the background, mixing with the windy day.
Lumos, by Talula Shippe – L$150
And with the love gathers magic, the most powerful spell, perhaps none know her – perhaps she knows that well.
This piece came with a poem of its own, and as beautiful as it is, I will include it down below my text. However before that I must make it clear – this is my FAVOURITE photo in the entire gallery. The colours, the position, the way she was able to capture shadows and movement of hair and body along with the magic side of the girls wand and the glitter, Lumos has definitely captured with its drop dead gorgeous way of being.
She wears the story on her face – Talula Shippe
My visit to the White Box Art Gallery was over an hour long, and as I analyzed many photos and pondered which ones to choose for my blog I even brought a friend over to tell me their opinions. I have always appreciated poetry and well thought out art, and with this art gallery highlight I hope you would find yourself a place to visit on a boring day.
For more beautiful art, please, go take a loot at Talula’s work, and tip her for how amazing it is.
Teaser of “Slumber” by Talula Shippe. See more at her gallery!
A gentle voice woke you up, followed by a small metal hush of your curtains opening, yet no light flowing in. Much like the mornings before, your world had changed drastically upon the metal giant stepping into power – and even though it was your responsibility to lift up the sun each morning and drag it down in the evening, their attempt to control you by cutting your wings had made it tedious, and now the most comfortable and safe place for you was that soft corner of your bed that no one could see from the rest of your apartment. It was a big change from a castle.
“Dear, what colour was the sky?” You hummed, blinking a few times as the dust fell down before your eyes. You hadn’t cleaned in a while either – what was the point anyway – with factories surrounding you.
“Blue, mother.” Such sadness in their voice, their shadow sunk back into your walls along with them, and with the silence falling back upon you, the fairies songs were now just cries for your help.
Do you remember
the sky falls
if you don't
remember
you have to
the wildflowers have turned grey
the birds no longer sing
water has become poison
you must remember
your memory
key to recovery
- Ailith 3/6/2019
The small piece above is called “Remember” and it is inspired by the sadness of our world – forgetting what enables our lives – the nature. The thoughts came to my head when I redecorated our family parcel on Second Life, and the scenery changed from a nature surrounded cabin to two modern houses with very little nature anymore. It sort of saddened me, although pictures below – I do love the new houses.
・‥…━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━…‥・
Please pray the winds for fresh air
for I am poison
are you aware?
life's not an option
witness my ascension
・‥…━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━…‥・
- Ailith
Apart from all the things that have happened, my flight through the colorful palette of pastels has continued, and with the updated avatars, my muses for poetry have been found – yet this time, within myself. I’ve grown to be able to write my poetry. Above of course a piece I wrote today!
Always be yourself… unless you can be a unicorn. Then always be a unicorn.
・‥…━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━…‥・
Your desire insatiable
my wallet bottomless
some call me the devil
who can blame them?
・‥…━━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━━…‥・
- Ailith
My first thought on the sim was “winter wonderland” as we arrived to take photos. My model Aven however saw it fit to call it “actual heaven”. Which in my opinion, is quite a compliment. Everything is in whites, pastels and beautifully magical glow.
For photography, I have visited The Outer Garden three times. Each time I have been blessed with absolutely gorgeous photos of my friends. Above are shots of what you can find on the sim. Every object has multiple poses, couple and solo, well placed and with their gorgeous backgrounds and environments. Come to think of it, I wasn’t able to get a “bad” picture from their sim. Sure, it can get laggy, due to complex ground objects and constant lights.