May 9th, 2012 is my 5th rezday. Five years ago today I found Second Life® and signed up whilst eating a bowl of strawberries, hence the name (yes, I am just that creative lol). It’s been quite a journey for me as I’ve learned a lot about myself. I’ve gained and lost many friends and loved ones these past five years and each one of them has left an imprint on my heart. A lot of people call this place just a game, but it’s so much more than that. The people I’ve gotten to know, the photography you see on this blog and all the writing and rambling I do here, has changed me and my life…forever.

I was only a few months old in SL when a friend introduced me to the sl flickr community and I fell in love with all of the creativity. So I signed up and since August of 2007 I have been documenting my SLife on my flickr. As of this moment, I have almost 2500 images uploaded on my flickr. Sometimes I go back and look through them from the starting and it brings tears to my eyes. I’ll cherish every single one of those memories.

Although I don’t update them as often as I would like, I love creating sets and collections in flickr so I can navigate through my images with more ease. I’d like to share two of those sets with you guys today.

First is a slideshow of a set called “Headshots” these are closeup images of my face over the years and how it’s changed. The majority of these images are photoshopped, a program I didn’t know anything about until just a couple of years ago. Now I can’t seem to live without it.
Headshots set slideshow:

Another set I’ve created on flickr is called “my favs” most of the time after posting an image on flickr, I usually hate it within thirty minutes. All of the flaws and errors and silly things I missed while processing all of a sudden just jump out at me and I can’t stand the thought of even looking at the picture anymore. Anyhow, that happens most of the time, however there are some pictures that resonate with me and mean a lot to me. It could be because of the way I was feeling when I created them or the way I feel about the people that are in them, whatever the reason is, these are the ones that I still look back on and smile (or sometimes cry). I’m not going to do a slideshow of this one, but you can view them on my flickr if you like.

Flickr is definitely one of my favorite places I share information about my Second Life. Another place that is slowly becoming a favorite and I’m really enjoying sharing things on there now is my Facebook Page. I am loving interacting with the SL facebook community. I’ve been slowly adding some of my favorite headshots in an album on there, you can check those out at this link if you’re on facebook.

Looking at all of these images I am reminded of why I love Second Life so much. I love being able to be whatever or whomever I want to be that day. I can be a blond, a brunette or a redhead. I can be a fairy, a mermaid, an angel or a scary monster if I want to. The possibilities are endless.

The past five years have been fun and enlightening. I just hope for many more. Thank you for being a part of my Second Life. <3

What does Second Life mean to you? Why do you keep logging in?

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Linden Lab® to create an image with a music theme. I wasn’t sure exactly what to do. Then I remembered this adorable pose I had from Olive Juice and asked Mr. Prad Prathivi to come sit with me. I think this is one of my most favorite pictures that I have ever done, it means so much to me. That’s why I’m so happy that it’s on SecondLife.com today. (Remember to logout if you are logged in so you can see it)

Along with Mr. Prathivi and I, you will see Miaa Rebane, Faint Paulse, Harlow Heslop, Sixx Yangtz, Harper Beresford and Ivoni Miles. Just click on the arrows to see all of the images. Congrats to them all. <3

After submitting the above picture (which is pretty much a raw screen shot) I had played with the image more in photoshop and posted it on my flickr, so sharing it below. While processing the image, I was listening to "I love you forever” by the amazing Two Steps From Hell.

The couple’s pose in this image is by IsabellaGrace Baroque of Olive Juice. She will be giving this pose out for FREE at Pose Fair which will run from April 15th till May 5th. So remember to drop by the Olive Juice booth and pick up your free pose! <3

Credits:
What Mr. Prathivi is wearing:
Shirt: Aoharu – Silk Shirt (Black)
Jeans: Zaara – Classic Jeans (Ash)
Shoes: Kari – Kicks Shoes

What I’m wearing:
Skin: Aura
Hair: Shag
Shirt: Erratic
Jeans: Maitreya Mesh Jeans
Jewels: Je Suis and Erratic
Shoes: Soreal Sneakers

I know I disappeared for a few days, I’ve just been kind of swamped with client pictures. Not that I don’t love shooting you guys. It’s a really great feeling to take a picture of someone and they end up liking it so much they post it everywhere. It makes me smile and I’m so thankful to be able to do that for so many people. However, since it’s been taking up so much of my time, I haven’t had the chance to do something else I love doing as much and that is to take pictures of myself! LOL I kind of miss blogging. So I think after this week I’m going to start taking fewer clients a day. I know this means you might not be able to get an appointment right away, but it will give me the ability to also blog when I feel the need to since I have to juggle my time wisely in SL due to RL work. I hope you guys understand and I really appreciate all the encouragement and support I continuously receive from the whole community. <3

I've been wanting to do this post for a while and I had a short break in between clients so I whipped up this quick picture for it. LOL Took me srsly about 15 minutes. Meet my photography ALT, her name is Berrylicious and she looks EXACTLY like me. LOL I realized that it was my inventory on my Strawberry Singh account that was making it difficult for me to actually take high resolution pictures, with great shadows and also minimal crashing and glitches. So I started to use Berrylicious as my photography ALT. She has a very small inventory and while taking pics she rarely crashes and can take beautiful shadow pictures with a very high resolution. So what I usually do when I’m taking a pic for a blog post these past few weeks is login to my Strawberry Singh account using regular sl viewer and dress her up for the post. Then I use Kirstens Viewer to login to Berrylicious. Kirstens is my favorite viewer for shooting pictures. Then I use Berrylicious to actually take the pictures of Strawberry Singh. (Did I confuse you yet? :P)

Anyhow, back to the reason for this post. I am a big Elikapeka Tiramisu fan. I was an avid shopper few years back at her old store ETD. So much so that I was totally excited when she chose one of my pics to be displayed as a poster back in the day. Look I even did a goofy blog post back in 2008 about it. On second thought, don’t look, I was a little TOO excited. LOL

Now that she is back with the all new elikatira I have just been drooling over the hairs. I had to get the latest release for Berrylicious because it is just the most cutest french braid I have ever seen and the front part frames my face so well. If you haven’t checked out elikatira yet, what are you waiting for? Her styles are amazing and her textures are so soft and beautiful.

elikatira blog: http://elikatira.com
elikatira on marketplace: https://marketplace.secondlife.com/stores/1368
elikatura slurl: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Elikatira/79/127/36

Credits:
Skin: [:Tuli:] Claire / fair / li :: TDR Newyear 2011 LE by Tuli Asturias
Hair: [elikatira] Later – Brown 04 by Elikapeka Tiramisu
Clothes & Jewels: Zaara by Zaara Kohime

There is nothing more I love then a luscious dark skin. I just feel so incredibly sexy in it. Kasumi pale has also been released, you can see me wearing it in this post. You can find both of the dark and pale in the PXL mainstore now.

I haven’t done Berry’s Favorite Things in a while, definitely adding Kasumi in dark into that category.

And while we’re discussing my favorite things, here’s more of my favorite jewelry from je suis. Luckily je suis is have a Black Friday sale and everything in the store is 50% off till 11:59pm slt tonight. So make sure to check it out today!

Credits:
*Skin: PXL Kasumi by Hart Larsson
*Eyes: PXL by Hart Larsson
Hair: Lamb by Lamb Bellic
Bra: :bijou: prayer by Kotobuki Jewell
*Jewels: je suis african set by Julia Merosi
*Nails: je suis by Julia Merosi
*Poses: Long Awkward Pose by Dove Swanson
*Promotional items

For this week’s installment of Berry’s Favorite Things I’d like to bring you….Sofia. Glam Affair’s new skin in dark that I’m not planning to take off anytime soon. As soon as I tried the demo, I just went wow and bought my favorite makeup. Now I’m regretting it and wish I actually bought the fatpack…perhaps I’ll do that in a few days. :)

The poses I’m using are by Elikapeka Yokosuka who just opened a new pose store by the name of Honey and Vinegar. I found the poses to be very simple and stylish.

The clothing and jewels I am wearing in the post will be available at the ~ Etheria – When Jeweler’s Dream ~ event. It starts on June 13, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. slt and is a collaborative fashion event between the following stores:
~ Caroline’s & Ingenue
~ Dark Mouse & Lark
~ KessKreations & Moonshine Designs
~ Lolapop! & Blue Blood
~ MONKEE & Evie’s Closet

Have a great weekend! <3

Credits:
Skin: -Glam Affair - Sofia Dark – make up 3 by aida Ewing
Eyes: Poetic Color eyes -star -mercury by Lano Ling
Hair: W&Y MODEL HAIR 20 by yukitan Farrjones
*Dress: Ingenue :: Valdez :: Bodice :: Golden 2 by Betty Doyle (Available @ Etheria on June 13th)
*Jewels: Caroline’s Jewelry Diamond by Caroline Apollo (Available @ Etheria on June 13th)
*Poses: honey and vinegar by Elikapeka Yokosuka
Location: Svarga

*Promotional copies