A photographic celebration gets underway... and how!

angelahtokyo

Thank you, thank you, dear artists, photographers and friends in Second Life, for your instant and warm reception to the idea of celebrating the extraordinary work of Baron Grayson, the Templum ex Obscurum, simply for the sheer joy of it.

Here are just ten of the many photographs that are coming in to the Templum ex Obscurum - A NPIRL photographic challenge Flickr group from the ultra talented people of Second Life. In most instances, you can click on the photographs to see a larger version. Please remember to tag your photographs with the name of the creator of Templum ex Obscurum, "Baron Grayson", and also add a "NPIRL" tag for good measure, 'cause it makes me happy.

Even as I'm posting this, more photographs that I hope to feature are being posted to the group.


shellina Winkler


Gina Glimmer


Tillie Ariantho


salme


Lilith Ivory


Gary Hayes


Hidenori Glushenko


Tim Deschanel


Solkide Auer

A very special thanks to the kind gentleman and owner of Templum ex Obscurum, Cuwynne Deerhunter, for his patience with our enthusiastic invasion of the sim.

Is Second Life the greatest derivative art form? Templum ex Obscurum signifies that it is

See below for a photography and Machinima challenge.

While art is a reflection of its time, it also inherently influences what it seeks to capture. Until I discovered Second Life®, cinema was, for me, the greatest derivative art form... influenced by everything and in turn, influencing everything else. While the notion had been seeping into my thinking for some time now, what I saw last night convinced me that virtual worlds - as a creative platform - will far surpass cinema in this regard.

For many weeks this past spring, I gave my heart and soul to the Garden of NPIRL Delights, and so it was that I ended up spending less than a couple of minutes previewing what was then a new creation on the grid. I probably didn't even have time to rez it all. I've just been back for the first time, and what I saw there astonished me.

Templum ex Obscurum by Baron Grayson - and now owned by Cuwynne Deerhunter - is a place that accomplishes what many have sought to do in Second Life but have always fallen short of... to transport us into a world that is so rich with narrative that we may as well have walked into a Brian de Palma or Visconti movie. Not the set of a movie. The actual movie.



I do believe we will long remember Templum ex Obscurum as being the first to really introduce this new syntax for content creation. For lack of better words, it is cinematic genius... so beguiling and bewitching that I could devote weeks to reporting on its many parts and details.

Instead, I challenge you, the photographers and Machinimators of Second Life, to show us what you see. I would like to feature the best of your work on this blog every week for the next four weeks, beginning today and ending on Sunday, September 14th.

If you would like to participate in this celebration and challenge, please add your photographs to the Templum ex Obscurum - A NPIRL Photographic challenge Flickr group, and your Machinima to the Not Possible IRL YouTube group. I haven't any prizes or awards to offer... just my enthusiasm and eagerness to see what the very talented people of Second Life will come up with. The selection process will be based on the number of comments and faves.

I was so caught up in experiencing Templum last night that it didn't occur to me to take photographs until the last five minutes I was there. The lighting is the stuff of dreams. I must go back, again and again.

Teleport to Templum ex Obscurum directly from here.

I am photographed wearing Eshi Otawara's Blue Tux dress which can be purchased at her Chambre de Chocolat, and a new hairstyle for Hairspray.