I got an invitation by Kika Yongho to visit Photo Café, a sim and a brand new location for 2023 for a group of SL photographers to gather every 2 weeks and discuss about related themes.
Poster of Photo Café / landing at Photo Café / the welcome pop-up menu
The sim in not just exclusively for a particular group, it is a meeting spot for all SL Photographers (at any level) to gather and share experiences, hints, tips & tricks, landmarks or contests (inworld or Flickr) and whatever else comes to mind!
At the regular meeting every other Saturday at noon SL time (9 PM Central Europe time) are moderated and accessible to everyone. And there’s also an agenda and a set theme for the meeting.
I visited on Saturday, April 8th. At the landing point a pop-up menu appears. You can grab a notecard, landmarks and links, join the group or get a gift. If you accept “experiences” walking straight forward brings you to the sim.
I had not set my environment to midnight at first. I strongly recommend to set it to midnight. Quite in the center of the sim is the meeting circle where I met Kika Yongho, who gave a quick tour to me.
Impressions of “Photo Café” (1)
The sim is just beautiful and offers countless great backgrounds for taking pictures. If you join the group you get rez rights and can use your own props. The current theme of Photo Café is “Tropical fantasy night” with many waterfalls, exotic plants and lights and light effects. There’s also an underwater world. Amoung the plants you might discover art, Kika pointed me to a sculpture of Mistero Hifeng.
Besides the meeting area you find a beach, a cafeteria and of course an event area. Kika told me that the next event is scheduled for Saturday, April 22nd at 9 AM SL time (6 PM Central Europe Time) before another scheduled meeting of SL photographers.
Impressions of “Photo Café” (2)
Another highlight of the sim is hidden in the skies above. You can reach it when you go to the well in the center of the meeting circle. First I thought I’d be in a spaceship. But is is a photo scene rezzer. Just click on the center rhombus. Changing the photoscene is a great show (turn your sound on!). I just tried out 2 of 50 or more different scenes and took a quick snapshot. But I can imagine that you can create great picture with the according poses.
Impressions of “Photo Café” (3) – the photo rezzer
So if you look for great backgrounds for your pictures, or just want to talk and get hints and exchange about photography in Seond Life Photo Café might be the place to go to.
Thank you Kika Yongho for inviting me over and for the tour. And thank you also to the other participationg group members Duraya, Kapaan and DaneAlbion, as well as to Violette Rembrandt, who built the sim.
I enjoyed my visit.
Landmark to Photo Café
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Midnight%20Party/158/208/21
Photo Café on flickr (new photos on top)
https://www.flickr.com/groups/14789205@N20/pool/
Photo Café website
https://www.photocafe.news/
Diomita Maurer’s Blog 