Hi there everyone...
Normally when I do a blog post I like to tell you all a story, but tonight I think it is time for someone else to tell their story. Molly Bloom has been a long time user and supporter of LUMIPro. She tells a story, through her photography, in a class all her own. Well on December 7, 2014 Molly will be sharing some of her beautiful work in a collection called Depth Perception and presented by The Rose Gallery. Before I ramble on lets hear her story...
The thing about artists is they get a feel for something, and it sticks to them. That “thing” is always sitting there in the background, lurking, waiting, until it reveals itself somewhere in their art.
For me, it started was when I was 17, visiting the Louvre in Paris, and I wandered into the Dutch art room. I was captive there for hours looking at the artists from the Antwerp school who pioneered a style that has influenced art to this day. Their sense of lighting and color created a permanent scar on my brain, and influenced much of the art I was to make my entire life. However, I was never a good painter, and I couldn’t take a real-life picture if someone held a gun to my head. Instead, I spent years working with other mediums: glass, clay, metal, decoupage, cement(!), to name just a few. But the desire to create art with the lighting effect called chiaroscuro, which is the effect of contrasted shadow and light, has been lurking, waiting for an outlet.
Along comes Second Life. When it was suggested I take photos, and for the first time saw the works of Skip Staheli and Trindolyn Beck, two major influences on me, I laughed. Yeah, right. I knew I could not take a picture, and I’d never done digital art. So I’d take the most hideous pictures, flat and uninspiring. But again, like with any artist, the challenge was there. I swore I’d figure this out.
I kept taking pictures, adding context, and a photographer friend, Royal, started talking to me about lighting. I was so defensive, figuring my pictures were good ENOUGH, and really not understanding what lighting would do to enhance my “art”. Then the memories flooded back, and that age-old desire to paint like Carravagio, Peter Paul Rubens and Rembrandt, et al, resurfaced.
And then I discovered the LUMIPro hud. With the first shadow I made with my hud, a tidal wave of creative emotion came over me. No longer were my pictures flat, they sprang to life. My avatars became almost 3D. I GOT IT!! I have thanked Stefan Buscaylet over and over. The hud he created does so much, and is so easy to use, that even someone that has ZERO knowledge of photography can create amazing pictures in this virtual world. I am dedicating, in part, my new series Depth Perception to him because his lighting tool caused my flat world to spring to life, and allowed me to finally create my longtime dream. I am still finding new and surprising ways to use the hud in a constant dance with windlights. Stefan really knows his stuff. I use his hud constantly, and often will have someone at a club IM me and say...umm, you know you have some balls and a camera revolving around you? Oops, forgot.
Kudos LUMIPro.
I have had the pleasure of a sneak peak at a few of these pieces, and I am just amazed. The photos in this blog entry do not do the collection justice. These works of art mix 2D and 3D techniques to come alive in ways you will not forget. I do hope everyone will take a moment to stop by The Rose Gallery. Molly's work will be on display through the month of December. Congratulations Molly!
As I am sure you all have guessed Molly took all of her photos with the help of the LUMIPro Hud. To try a demo check out our Sales Studio in world!
Everyone is invited!
