SPOTLIGHT FEATURE: Vintage Amore Photography Studio brings a new angle to Photography Services in Second Life© -Lanai Jarrico Reporting… ~ The SL Enquirer

Vintage Amore was founded by Kavi Aldrin and her partner Sluuge Resident. With 2 years experience under their belts, they have worked in photo studios in the real world. With aspirations of starting a business, they established their presence here in Second Life© including stores and Sluuge’s Breedables, finally saving up enough Lindens to launch the Vintage Amore Photography Studio.

I have to say, after my tour of Vintage Amore, I was very impressed. It was no cheap skybox with outdated pose balls and a chair in the middle of the room. It had a grand gallery style entrance with a red carpet rolled out before me. This is where I met up with Kavi and Sluuge.

Kavi & Sluuge

As we entered Vintage Amore, from left to right for two floors, photographs lined the walls. Each one showing techniques like rl/sl morphs that are breathtaking and so realistic. On the wall to the right of the entrance are boards displaying each photographer and coordinator for superb customer service.

After touring the main building, they invited me to the private studio, where all the photography magic happens. This Facility was very well planned out and organized. So much so, not just any random resident can wander in off the grid. You have to be a client.

Sneak Peek

While we were there, I got a chance to try out their services too. Sluuge and Kavi introduced me to one of their skilled photographers, CharleyMurphy Resident. She got right to work and took a picture, within a day she created a new business card for me!

I have to say the service was great, they truly were professionals and I had fun. This is what you call a “two thumbs up” establishment.

Interview with Vintage Amore’s Kavi Aldrin and Sluuge Resident

Lanai Jarrico: Hi Kavi and Sluuge, it is a pleasure to meet you both and learn more about you and Vintage Amore. I’d like to begin by asking, what brought you both into Second Life?

Kavi Aldrin: To be completely honest we both found second life from two different parts of the world Sluuge being from the Netherlands and I from Malaysia just lucky enough to eventually find each other in SL. For me it happened when I watched C.S.I (Crime Screen Investigation) on television where they had an episode on Second Life and out of curiosity I Googled it and found this interesting world with a lot of opportunities. Sluuge on the other hand, got here through his dad who has been playing sl for several years and through sl sluuge and his dad Alfa in my opinion has grown closer and more comfortable with each other in so many different ways.

Lanai Jarrico: Neat story, I have seen that Episode with the White Rabbit. There was actually a CSI Sim that featured information about the show. I also agree, Second Life© does have that quality about it. It has the power to bring people together while discovering new things about themselves and the family and friends, they interact with here.

Would you consider Second Life an extension of your real lives, or a platform for expanding on your skills?

Kavi Aldrin: I would definitely consider Second life as an extension of our real lives. It might be a game but it’s a game where we play as ourselves. No matter what the occasion may be, if its business or leisure we always include SL in our daily lives. As for me and Sluuge, it’s a way for us to keep our long distance relationship going. However, personally SL has given me the opportunity to improve my skills in many different ways. Like everyone else, I started at the bottom joining second life getting a job as a host in a club then from there I moved up the ladder and eventually got the opportunity to be a general manager for a club. This gave me experience on how Second life worked learning the different types of people but most of all the chance to meet so many people from around the world is by far the best thing SL has to offer. I took interest in building and slowly started learning and making unique things and challenged my imagination. From there I also started scripting.

There is a joy when you are able to build something from scratch and seeing it turn out into something that actually works.

After spending time learning all of this I started having interest in SL photography. Virtual world photography is indeed different and is based purely on a person’s imagination which for me was the thing that attracted me the most and like every other photographer, I learned the tricks of SL photography and Photoshop. My best friend Sluuge, during this period got into the breedables market and we both worked really hard. With 2 years of experience working in photography studios we both finally opened our own Studio Vintage Amore and we sell our builds and products on marketplace with a store name Sluuge Little Project's.

Lanai Jarrico: You both have definitely come a long way to the point you are at now. Can you tell me about Vintage Amore Studio and what unique services you provide to the residents of Second Life?

Kavi Aldrin: Vintage Amore is a full service studio providing the best photography experience with great customer service. It’s a place where you can capture your special moments with your loved ones like a wedding or maybe even a private party. We have one of the best morph artist as well as talented photographers. All our photographs come with the best quality done by our very own photographers.

Our clients will be greeted from the first minute they land in our studio by our sales rep that will help them with photography questions and photographer bookings. We have a wide display of our photographers work displayed in our gallery as well as in our outdoor digital gallery. This gives every client a chance to see the work of our photographers and pick a photographer if they wish.

Once a booking is done, the photographer will contact the client and teleport them to our studio, where the shooting will be done with a wide variety of poses to choose from.

All photographers always do ask the clients what type of theme they are looking for and also if they are happy with the poses they are in. Clients are more than welcome to change their outfits during photo shoots as well as rez their own props that they would love to use. We want all our clients to be satisfied with the service and the art of the photographers.

Lanai Jarrico: I agree, you do have very skilled photographers and great customer service. Without giving too much away, what techniques do you like to incorporate into the photographs you take and create for your clients?

Kavi Aldrin: I would say our studio is different from a lot of other studios because we use an open space photography studio to do the shooting in. All of our clients would be teleported to our studio where we use equipments like scripted backdrops as well as a huge different variety of poses to choose from. The uniqueness of having an open space studio allows our photographers to use techniques like Windlight settings and enhance shadows in their photographs. With these settings used in a good way the photos that turn out can be a lot more different and of course better than a normal photo session. This settings also gives a variety in the pictures the photographer does with different settings all the photographs would not look the same. Every photograph taken in the studio is then edited in Photoshop or any other photo editing software to create some creative and unique.

Lanai Jarrico: What packages or other services are available for your clients needs?

Kavi Aldrin: Offering a wide range of packages including profile pictures, singles shots(full body or close up)couple pictures, group pictures, pregnancy photographs, family photos(a large group or a small group),wedding photographs, morphs(single or couples),modelling portfolios, Graphic designs, Invites, Logo, Banner and etc. We do studio shooting as well as on location shooting depending on the clients.

Lanai Jarrico: Where is your studio located for our readers?

Kavi Aldrin: http://slurl.com/secondlife/FOREVER%20PARADISE/167/70/3824. We also have a website: http://vintageamorephotography.webs.com

Lanai Jarrico: Oh that’s great! I’ll be sure to check out the site too. So, what is your availability here in Second Life?

Kavi Aldrin: Vintage Amore Photography Studio is open 24 hours a day 7 days a week, we have sales rep's and photographers from all around the world who works in different time zones allowing us to be able to attend to clients at any time of any day. Personally Sluuge and I are always online to help any client or staff that needs help. Sluuge and I also have two different time zones so either one of us will be around always.

Lanai Jarrico: Is your photography service by appointment only, or do you accept walk-ins?

Kavi Aldrin: We take walk-ins everyday unless a client specifically books a certain day and time for the shoot.

Lanai Jarrico: Everyone loves a great deal, do you have any specials or sales going on?

Kavi Aldrin: Yes we are having a 25% on all morphs at the moment and in the future we will be having 25% discounts on all packages every now for everyone and especially for clients who are regulars.

Lanai Jarrico: What group can residents join to receive notices and special offers?

Everyone is welcomed to join our Vintage Amore group, by typing in Vintage Amore in search under the groups tab. We give all group members a head start for our discounts available as well as free gifts placed in our gallery.

Lanai Jarrico: Those are great incentives to join. How do you prefer to be contacted?

Kavi Aldrin: For all clients please just drop by our gallery and our sales rep will assist you. If you need to contact either me or Sluuge, just drop us a note card and we will get back to you as soon as possible.