079 - Out on a limb

Dim Sum wonders if her big cousin is fascinated with the sun dapples on the water or with his own reflection.


I swear I'm going to AR people who keep bumping me while I'm doing a photoshoot. For crying out loud!

Anyway, I found this cute baby big cat on a little island. There are lots of animals all over the sim. Not as many as they used to have, probably to save prims, but there are still some. And it's always a nice surprise to find them.

location: Kannonji Zen Center

Technical notes

windlight: Fairy Blue (Paulina) (modified)
water: Glassy (modified)

078 - Walled garden

Dim Sum winces, in the way cats wince, as she walks gingerly, feeling the gritty sand grains that stuck to her paws.


I seem to be taking too many bridge pictures lately, whether they have water or sand under them. Hmmmm....

location: Kannonji Zen Retreat

Technical notes

windlight: Fairy blue (Paulina) (modified)

077 - Hidden falls

Dim Sum doesn't mind the refreshing mist leaving tiny beads of moisture on her fur on a hot day.


Beyond the big rock formation on the right side is a cliff, at the top of which is a tourist binocular thing, which is a charming touch. I wanted to include it in the picture, but I couldn't get a good composition of the falls with it.

location: Kannonji Zen Retreat

Technical notes

windlight: Free's Sunset (modified)
water: [NB] Sparkling Depths (modified)

076 - Bridge covered peaceful water

Dim Sum looks down at the water and watches the otter float by.


Pardon the terrible pun of the title. I meant to say "covered bridge," but I had to swap the words to fit the song title. :D  I'm surprised no one has noticed the bad puns in some of my titles. Or maybe they just groan secretly to be polite....

location: Kannonji Zen Retreat

Technical notes

windlight: [TOR] SCIFI - Rimmerthal (modified)
water: Glassy (modified)

I realize that I'm not giving you all the information you need to recreate the scene. So I'm doing something different. Instead of copying the settings, I'll just show them to you in a composite screenshot. Like this:

Of course, you have to view it in the original size to see the numbers.  ;)

075 - Lotus pond

Dim Sum eases slowly toward the edge of the water, mesmerized by the floating pink petals. 


I've been meaning to come here for a while now. Kannonji has been my other sanctuary for a very long time. When the sim was new, it was among the first places that baked shadows into their builds.

They have meditation sessions, but I prefer to meditate on my own. And the sim changes, but it maintains the same peaceful feeling.

I'll show you my favorite spots in the next few days.

location: Kannonji Zen Retreat

Technical notes

windlight: Phototools Lo Light 03 (modified)
water: Default

Depth of Field:
View angle: 0.727
FOV: 13.0
F-number: 7.0
Foc Length: 780
Foc Time: 0.5
CoC: 10.0
Resolution: 1.0
Aspect Ratio: 1.0

Glow Settings:
Quality: 8
Iterations: 1
Strength: 0.35
Luminance: 1.0
Warmth: 0.0
Width: 1.3
Alpha: 0.25

074 - Lighthouse point

Dim Sum licks her paw. She could almost smell the tuna in the salty sea air.


This one is another entry for a Flickr contest.

location: Watchtower

Technical notes

windlight: Places alirium (modified)
water: Glassy (modified)

Depth of Field:
View angle: 1.047
FOV: 44.7
F-number: 2.35
Foc Length: 779
Foc Time: 0.5
CoC: 10.0
Resolution: 1.0
Aspect Ratio: 1.0

Glow Settings:
Quality: 8
Iterations: 1
Strength: 0.35
Luminance: 1.0
Warmth: 0.0
Width: 1.3
Alpha: 0.25

073 - Grand Rue

Dim Sum meows at the sneakers that walked by, barely missing her tail by a whisker.


It seems that all through out my growing-up years, I had always lived far away from school. In grade school, my sister and I rode privately hired jeepneys that took us and other school friends to and from school. In high school, we rode public jeepneys or buses  After moving to California, it still took me 1.5 hours one way to commute to the university waiting for and riding two buses and one BART train.

Unlike most people who could read while commuting, I can't. Even since I was a young child, I've had problems with motion sickness. And reading in a moving vehicle simply made it worse. So I'd either sleep or look out the window and watch the scenes go by while reflecting about one thing or another.

I don't remember exactly when it happened, only that I was still young. The bus I was riding stopped to let some people off, and I noticed a small alley which I could see far into. And I wondered where it went, who lived there, what was beyond the bend. Since then, it became almost a game. I'd look for the alleys and wooded paths that led away from the road, and each time I'd wonder where it went, what was beyond the bend or the hill. I was fascinated.

Somehow, I rarely feel that wonder in SL because we see everything from a higher vantage point. Even when we're walking. We have a map. We can move our cameras anywhere, at viewpoints that are difficult, if not impossible, to get in real life. And that wonder is no longer evoked. The curiosity is easily satisfied.

We don't have to imagine what's beyond the bend; we just go and look. And I think we lost something because of that.

model: HiHo Silvera
location: Edelweiss - Mont Saint-Michel

Technical notes

windlight:  [TOR] SUNSET Malts (modified)

Depth of Field:
View angle: 0.606
FOV: 25.6
F-number: 8.96
Foc Length: 319
Foc Time: 0.5
CoC: 10.0
Resolution: 1.0
Aspect Ratio: 1.0

Glow Settings:
Quality: 8
Iterations: 1
Strength: 0.35
Luminance: 1.0
Warmth: 0.0
Width: 1.3
Alpha: 0.25

I was going to try other windlight settings but after the one below, I crashed, so I took that as a hint from the universe to stop. I still decided to go with the more subtle lighting above.