I came across Kekeland looking for professionally built places with attention to detail and overall credibility. Lately, I’m exploring the creations of Terry Fotherington (on Facebook), aka Dandy Warhol (on Flickr). In the coming months, I intend to know other landscapers and visit (where possible) their creations inworld.
I say “where possible” as the person who commissions a job to a landscaper is not always willing to leave their region open to visitors. In many cases, those who pay for such work want to close the region for their own benefit. It is a choice, just as it can leave the region open and allow travelers to enjoy an exceptional panorama made with professionalism and creativity to sell.
Kekeland is a 30k region admirably created by Dandy Warhol. Nature is the predominant aspect, certainly the most attractive one according to my point of view. The overall setting describes a village where life is on a human scale, in contact with chickens, ducks, sheep, dogs, and animals of various types. The natural landscape is consistent; there are no burrs or elements out of context. The high mountains surrounding the region are impressive and beautiful to admire from any angle.
The houses are sporadic, but the few existing are furnished with a wealth of details to impress. Although the buildings are not excellent, how they have been furnished also makes the construction simpler a jewel that you would like to own.
The sounds of nature are carefully chosen and carefully arranged throughout the region regarding the type of flora and fauna present.
If you are not moved by art, a landscape, a new life just born; More than anything, you don’t live.
(Arli3, Twitter)
The creation of a virtual landscape is an art form, without a doubt. When it is made with such incredible precision and great creativity that it is exceptional in a broad context of virtual panoramas, it itself becomes art.
Finally, Kekeland also offers a beautiful live music venue called Kami Lounge that seems to be active: at the entrance you can find useful references related to the programming of musical events.
Unfortunately, there do not appear to be any groups that are entitled to join. I have not even found Flickr groups dedicated to photography of this beautiful destination; I believe that traffic and popularity are not the primary purposes of the region’s owner, Belle des Champs (Bridget.Genna).
Nature and landscape lovers will find in Kekeland a wonderful place to spend some free time in absolute relaxation.
It’s no news that I’m a fan of the stunning landscape creations by Terry Fotherington (on Facebook), aka Dandy Warhol (on Flickr). Decorating regions has become a profession for some as well as a passion. In Terry’s case, it’s a masterpiece: anyone who visits Frogmore 4.0 will realize this immediately.
Frogmore covers the region of the same name and is home to 30k prims. However, Terry has managed to decorate it, leaving about 9k prims free. This helps to reduce lag, and in fact, I was able to take several pictures using Firestorm’s ultra mode without any problems.
Frogmore has its own group that you can join freely and without cost at the time of writing: secondlife:///app/group/e936e4a3-ca1e-e50a-df1f-2341899527fe/about.
Tolla Crisp owns the region.
Frogmore is a region rich in plants, rocks, and flowers. The elevation changes, the rustic houses, the beach areas are all aspects of the region that characterize it and which, in themselves, could characterize any region were it not for the fact that the way they have been placed in context makes the landscape extraordinarily credible and, for that reason, terribly fascinating. Even the choice of off-sim is in perfect harmony with the environment, an aspect that cannot be taken for granted. I have often seen off-sim that had little or nothing to do with the landscape.
The charm of the landscape is an aspect that can be grasped when you see the constant presence of people heading to Frogmore, to take a photo, or even just for a simple walk in an environment that brings us back to nature, to contact with the environment. Frogmore makes us dream of a life that belonged to our grandparents and that, especially now in our isolation imposed by the sad circumstances in which we find ourselves, we long for with all our hearts.
Thanks to the suggestion of Jarla Capalini, a photographer I think is excellent in the panorama of SL bloggers, I had the pleasure to know Skrunda 2, a new destination with a post-apocalyptic/grunge style. The owner is Titus Palmira, whose profile I explored to get to know him better. I admit that I was fascinated by his photographs posted on Flickr. It is a visual style not evident, which seems to be an exploration into a suffering society’s communicative world. Of course, this is only my impression, as I have not enjoyed exploring this topic with Palmira himself.
https://flic.kr/p/2kDpDhi
The king of half measures by Titus Palmira
Returning to Skrunda-2, this is a newly released destination that is seducing several photographers. In the description of the region, in about land, we find a short presentation, which catapults us into the representative intentions of the owner:
“Skrunda-2 is loosely based on the town of the same name in Latvia. It used to be run by Russians to house radar. They left in 1998 and what remains to this day is a complete but empty ghost town, a time capsule of Cold War paranoia and Soviet-style.”
Looking at the properties of the objects, for the most part, they are by Sofie (sofie.janic), who therefore seems to be the designer of Skrunda. I also found some items by Megan Prumier, who therefore collaborated on the photo destination. Skrunda doesn’t have any particular jumps, except in some rare cases. These are points where the ground has been elevated to give rise to tunnels.
Skrunda-2
The aspect that impressed me the most is the quality of the objects chosen to decorate the region. Although the creators are different, the buildings blend well in style and make the landscape believable, realistic.
The idea of a lost, abandoned, the forgotten place has always attracted my curiosity, and post-apocalyptic movies, pictures, books, and whatever else is themed.
There is no lack of places to take nice pictures: to explore it and take pictures, I chose Black Dragon viewer, using the beautiful shadow effects that this viewer can offer.
Skrunda-2 is undoubtedly worth a visit. For those who love the style, you can join its group for free. Finally, there is also a dedicated Flickr group, where bloggers and photographers are invited to share their images.
This is pretty much the ultimate Drune. It has all the best bits of the past Drunes,
and finally feels for once like an actual place, rather than a small part of one. Everything has been rearranged, and improved. If you take the time to wander around, you will find a lot of new stuff on sim.
Today I got the sad news Ash Falls and Erebos Harbor will be offline at the end of December.
From their website:
Erebos Harbor and Ash Falls will be closing on the following dates;
Erebos Harbor: 24th December Ash Falls 1&2: 25th December
It hasn’t been an easy decision for us to make, but with us spending little to no time over the last 6 months in SL due to RL changes, the current rental market in SL not really being viable due to real world financial issues, and the flood of LL homes over the last 12 months, we have decided to take a hiatus from SL.
Rental boxes will no longer accept payments, but we invite our tenants to stay until the last should they wish to do so. Any rentals that exceed the remaining time on the regions will be issued a refund of any excess time.
Due to the fact that the regions are rented and not owned by us, they cannot be sold or transferred.
Client support for regions landscaped by us will continue indefinitely.
We would both like to personally thank everyone who has stayed with us over the years.
Leaf and Julz
I am sad since they are for sure two of the most beautiful SL Destinations: the most realistic with attention to details, to the overall credibility of the landscape.
I suggest a visit before the closing, to explore these awesome regions if you still don’t know and to get the chance to visit them for the last times if you already know them.
Cocoon is an incredible location for sci-fi roleplayers. It’s very detailed in a full sim of 30K prims. If you like sci-fi, you can fill the form to get the invitation for the role players group.
