Beauty is Everywhere

Justine's idea for her third outfit change of our afternoon together was brilliant and I support it 100%. She and I were both Post 6 Photographers and tried to feature as many body types as possible, but, as she pointed out, the models in this blog so far have been my friends and a couple former models- to this point all the models we have featured have been slim and model-esque, so...

Justine's idea was to pose in an avatar that would help expand my blog's definition of Beautiful Avatar as it should to include beautiful women of all body shapes and sizes. Here we have then, the beautiful Justine:

Beach Closed

I could post pictures of Justine all month, she's amazing, especially in a bikini :-)

We did do a third outfit and location change though, and while I know many of you readers are with me that Justine (in her "busty avatar with the nice butt," as she called it) is worthy of many more posts, tomorrow I'll show some from the third shoot, which was a lot of fun. 

Amazing avatar, right?

Tigress on the Beach

Justine rocked the leopard-skin bikini for our shoot, and she joked that I should call this post Cougar On the Beach. Subsequent conversation assured me she's not yet reached the cougar age group, so I up her one with Tigress.

Isn't she amazing? Remember that just moments before shooting at this location, she looked a lot like a 1960s version of Amy Winehouse.

 

Life's a Beach

As I said in yesterday's post, Justine is fun to work with because she says a lot of funny things, and some of them end up in this blog. For instance, allowing me to Photoshop anything is funny, which was yesterday's adventure.

 Today, the quote in question is "Be sure to get my butt, I love my butt in this avie." We had teleported from the Chelsea to a beach where she completely avatars, as you see. See? I told you Justine is fun to hang out with.

So, I'll shut up because I know you're already looking at the pictures, here's my wonderful friend Justine at the beach, (and her butt).

Something with Photoshop

Justine is fun to work with because she says things like "Do something to this with Photoshop" (hence the title of this post). Cliffhanger ending- I'll share another funny thing she said tomorrow- I think you'll appreciate it way more than this one!

So, here's my amazing friend Justine untouched and one where I've done my best to make it terrible with Photoshop. It's hard to make Justine look bad, I had to work at it. I was hoping for an old-school 1960s comic book feel. Let me know in the comments if I got even close.

And it's not appropriate here except as regards my Photoshop skillz because Justine has a gorgeous avie and of course the vintage style is too cool, but a Leonard Cohen line from Chelsea Hotel #2 seems appropriate given the music talk the last couple of posts:

"Well never mind, we are ugly but we have the music."

So here she is again, Justine as Amy at the Hotel Chelsea in Second Life

And that was called love for the workers in song

Back at the virtual Chelsea Hotel with Justine, who is rocking a hair as an homage to Amy Winehouse and cool turtleneck and bell-bottom throwback to the era of the Hotel Chelsea.

 How about a little Amy to listen to to balance the Leonard Cohen lecture yesterday.



I know you, you were expecting Rehab or Back to Black right? I'm hipper than I seem, lol.

So here are some great pictures of Justine in her throwback vintage glory;

I Remember You Well in the Chelsea Hotel

"you were famous, your heart was a legend"

-Leonard Cohen, Chelsea Hotel #2

So, I got the special treat of working with my old friend and colleague Justine this week. She was a fantastic blogger for four of the biggest blogs in Second Life back in the day, from fashion to news whatever the Herald was, Justine was a centerpiece.

Working with her is the best part- she's funny and fun. The second-best part is that she can whip out beautiful avatar after beautiful avatar, each different than the one before it. You want a pixie? A beautiful African-American Fashionista? The girl next door? She can change into any of these and more before I can even find a pair of shoes in my inventory. Source: Experience.

For our shoot, she first teleported me to The Virtual Chelsea Hotel where I found her rocking an homage to Amy Winehouse, and after several pics, changed avatars completely and we went to a beautiful beach, and then... well, I'll just let the pictures this week tell that story.

By the way, when I sat down to write this, I put Leonard Cohen's Chelsea Hotel #2 on, what a brilliant song. The first Leonard Cohen song I ever heard was "The Future," which I saw him perform on David Letterman. (Who would have thought it was his television debut!?)



I immediately bought that album (on cassette!) and then his greatest hits. And, true confession here, I didn't like his music all that much.  Whatever album "The Future" was on, I liked. Greatest hits, not so much, "derivative of Bob Dylan but traveling through molasses" was generally my thought. But over time, listening here and there, they started to speak to me. Chelsea Hotel #2 literally gave me chills when I listened to it just now, I had to stop writing and listen, it's such a beautiful song.

Now, I love his music, it's both mellow and intense at the same time. If you like music and haven't listened to Leonard Cohen, do yourself a favor. My favorites include many, but give a listen to Dress Rehearsal Rag, Famous Blue Raincoat, The Partisan, Suzanne, Waiting for the Miracle, and of course his most famous song Hallelujah. 

And yes, I warned Justine when she told me that she wanted to shoot at the Chelsea that I would spend a lot of time babbling about Leonard Cohen. Be grateful I don't go into the history of the real Hotel Chelsea and all the amazing people who stayed there. Do check out the virtual Chelsea, it's fun.

So, to give Justine her thousand words, here she is, paying tribute to Amy Winehouse, another of my favorite artists. That Justine would combine them makes her way too cool for words to describe, amazing woman, I give you Justine as Amy at The Hotel Chelsea, more tomorrow!

Revisiting Justine

I had two pictures from Justine's Post 6 that I held back for a day that needed some color. Here she is at NaNoBoSc. (SLURL).  I think her dress, the sim, the windlight and the magic of her AO made for some magical pics.

Playing it Casual

Here are a few more from my wonderful shoot with Justine and my wife the other day.

I had to run to rl after a wonderful day with Justine and my wife. When I left they went to a fashion show that Justine subsequently reviewed on my wife's blog and also on the Alphaville Herald. If you like this look on Justine (and who doesn't?) check our other blog as there are a few more pics there.

By the way, most of the clothes you see here are available at my wife's shop, either online, or in-world. I believe that the tank top in these pictures is a freebie at my wife's in-world shop.

Post 6.1 Continues

Here are a few more of Justine from her Post 6 appearance in the Alphaville Herald. Going forward, I don't know if I'll publish this many outtakes of each model but I love the lighting at NaNoBoSc and Justine's shape and the poses that her AO made. It was a fantastic way to start her shoot.

More NaNoBoSc and Justine, Post 6.1

Here are some more pictures of Justine from her recent Post 6 in the Alphaville Herald. The sim is the amazing NaNoBoSc sim (Slurl). I literally changed my windlight settings and let Justine stand there, her AO producing some amazing poses and the gorgeous sim making an amazing backdrop. These pictures and the ones I'll publish for the next couple of days have had zero Photoshop (other than cropping).

Post 6.1 Justine at NaNoBoSc

For Justine's first Post 6 picture we went to ICN's NaNoBoSc. It's an amazing place if you've not been there, here's a SLURL.I'm not sure of the whole story, but it has something to do with Nano Technology and they point to this website if you're interested in finding out more. I think it's just gorgeous.

Justine's AO is amazing as one would expect from such a consummate professional, so these are literally pictures of NaNoBoSc in Windlight, and Justine running through her normal AO routine. Is Second Life amazing or what?

What a Gorgeous Face

Here's some more from Justine's Post 6 shoot in the Alphaville Herald. This is an amazing avatar and Justine can dress it to the nines.

More Justine Post 6.1

Moar leftovers from Justine's photoshoot on the Alphaville Herald. I think her white gown thing is absolutely amazing.

Post 6.1- Justine

Justine, the one and same gorgeous avatar that has posed here for us these past few days, goaded me into doing the Post 6 column at the Alphaville Herald again. In return I goaded her into being the first model I shoot upon my return.

At her suggestion also I am going to run some "outtakes" from her shoot. When I was the Post 6 photographer before I always was saddened at the incredible left-overs from each shoot I had. This is a great solution for getting some of them out there.

I should mention that Post 6.1 will be only be featuring the clothed shots as we try to keep it PG here. I think her "fairy queen" look here is amazing, she looks like she's an enchanted creature from another realm.

Catching Up

After the photoshoot the girls went to a fashion show that Justine subsequently reviewed on my wife's blog and also on the Alphaville Herald. I caught up with them later and snapped four or five pics of them I'll feature here and on our other blog during the next few days.

By the way, most of the clothes you see here are available at my wife's shop, either online, or in-world. I believe that the tank top in these pictures is a freebie at my wife's in-world shop.

One Moar Big Change

Two more pictures of Carol and Justine in clothes that Carol made. I love the denim outfit that Justine is wearing, and Carol's one button cardigan is amazing. (Available here). I think the denim vest that Justine is wearing is especially amazing, as is her avatar. If you've not been reading the blog, take a look back the past couple days as Justine is putting on a clinic about quick changing

 Speaking of quick change, I thought you might appreciate this cute scene of Carol and Justine between outfits. I had to blur some but I still think it's a great picture, and definitely shows why I am the luckiest guy in the (SL) world.

A Gothic Feel

The only person I know who could rival my friend Jaime for number of amazing outfits they can bring out in ten minutes would be Justine. She demonstrated this by morphing from her unbelievably chic and gorgeous black female avatar into a gothic beauty, possibly a vampire. I was just getting used to the change when she morphed into the gorgeous girl next door I showed you yesterday. People who do avatars well truly are artists and Justine is definitely one.

Quick change

One of the best things about blogging with my Second Life friends is that we're playing a game, and creating "art" (or at least creating something), and it's just such a nice dynamic. It's also amazing to watch people who are really good with avatars. Justine went from stunning black woman to the cute tattooed rocker chick you see here. You think that's a quick change? Wait till tomorrow, I'll show you the goth vampire she became in-between!

 (Btw, both my wife and Justine are wearing clothes from my wife's store. In fact I think Carol's tank top is a freebie if you stop by the in-world shop. You can get her clothes online here.)

They Walk in Beauty

More of Justine and Carol in Carol's great new bikinis. They are available from the Second Life Marketplace, get a link to it here. I find Justine's avatar to be amazing, and I think you'll especially agree when you see how she quick-changes into something completely different in tomorrow's post.