Castle Valeriya, A gallery worth seeing

Article by: Ricken Flow
Photos by: Cienega Soon

Taking Second Life photography from snapshots to true art, Cienega Soon has made a name for herself in-world. Her pieces are intense and display the many possibilities of Second Life shots. Her gallery, Castle Valeriya, offers the perfect atmosphere to display her works. Cienega took a moment away from her work to discuss her work and her gallery.

inVd: You have become quite and accomplished photographer! How did you get your start in Second Life?

Cienega: As soon as I discovered the snapshot button at the bottom of the screen I started collecting SLphotos. I am an avid photographer in RL so this was a fun new medium to add to my creative expressions. After I spent a few months as a virtual real estate consultant I bought my first 512 plot and made a small gallery of my SL photos. 6 months later I aquired my first photoshop program, omg that was scary. All I could do was crop and add my name. Then I discovered the filters tab. My first photoshoped photo is still the first one on my Flickr. Shortly after I learned how to fix the edges of SL’s screenshots I would just make profile photos for newbies as surprises and just send them to them with a “hope you like this." I still love doing that. Then it was Fantasy Images gallery owner Bella Liadis, who asked me if I would please exhibit in her gallery. I was so nervous. The comments of that opening day gave me the courage to just ignore those that said SL screenshots is NOT photography and Photoshop on screenshots is NOT art.

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inVd: Art is often said to be an imitation of life. How does your photography/art represent your Second Life?

Cienega: My SLphoto Artistry is exactly that. I have fun creating moods and moments. I guess it’s really just an extension of what I get to do in a virtual world. I really can’t take this virtual life to serious unless I can bring my creativity with me. Creativity is a human trait I relate to very well, no matter what the medium is.

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inVd: What excites you the most finding a great subject to photograph in SL or making the picture your own in photoshop?


Cienega: The shot is most important to me. Subjects change with angles so once I see something I like then I’m using ctrl alt and zooming all over it. I really never know what it will be in the end. Each shot is handled on its own merits. I do have many that are not post-processed in any way. But for me the tools photoshop puts in my hand is my expression for depth and emotion. Every texture in Second Life is a product of a paint program of some kind. All skins, walls, streets, buildings, furniture, hair, clothing and so on are someone’s artwork. My artwork is what I do with my SL screenshot/photo. I get very excited when I dig into the colors and depth of what I do to a shot. And of course the layers of detail, all this is not much different than my RL mixes of stained-glass, wood and grinded-metal. Just creating, is what I do, and I can’t be stopped. And there isn’t a need for a plasma cutter in SL, so I will just snap and PS my work whilst sipping some tea.

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inVd: We have seen you take your showings beyond a normal gallery incorporated different builds with your artworks such as your exhibit Oil Pigs for burning life and your Darkness exhibit for second life’s 5th birthday. Do you create your own builds as well or do you collaborate with builders and what is your inspiration behind the exhibits?

Cienega: The Darkness build for SL5B was my first attempt to express myself beyond just a flat photo. I did that build alone. Light was invited to play on the edges of Darkness. Second Life makes it easy to bring out the darker side of my art. I enjoyed it so much I’ve added a bit of it to my Castle Valeriya Artist Gallery grounds. The pillars, bridges and stones feels welcoming to me.

Oil Pigs was collaboration between Gigmonger Stine and myself. We both had been talking of the gas prices and this build just evolved. We built some parts of an iron man. Then the Pig was my first real object build beyond a sculpty pillar. The man, the pigs and the oil became a message that needed to be expressed beyond a simple picture.

These builds awakened my virtual sculpting to a reality that I want to do more of it. I will be involved in many more creative expressions of my art here in SL. Building is now something I crave and it will be mixed with my artwork more and more.

I just tilt my head a little to the right and my mind goes into overdrive. Sometimes the screen is not big enough for what I see. But one day …. Castle Valeriya Artist Gallery will be an island of exciting realized visions of my tilted head … just you wait and see!



Castle Valeriya