0zymandius King is a Second Life artist who works as a photographer and writer for MAGE Magazine. He has also worked as a photojournalist for the SL Newser, was awarded a fellowship with the Windlight Art Gallery and currently has an art exhibition with the Sisse Singhs Art Gallery. I recently had an opportunity to interview 0zymandius to find out more about the role he plays with MAGE Magazine.
Thomson : Tell me about the origins of MAGE Magazine.
0zymandius : MAGE Magazine first began as a way to provide artists who were new to Second Life with a group where they could learn about SL photography and machinima while offering a medium through which they could showcase their work.
Thomson : For readers who are unfamiliar with Second Life, could you explain what this is?
0zymandius : Second Life is a virtual world. Some people see it as a game, others see it as a place where they can network and meet people from around the world. What attracted me to second life were the photographic opportunities.
Thomson : What do you mean by photographic opportunities?
0zymandius : To explore the Second Life grid you need to download a software that is called a “viewer”. This software allows you to view your avatar as you navigate through the virtual world. This software also comes with a snapshot application that allows the user to take “snapshots” of what is on the computer screen. Similar to a screen capture.
Thomson: To my first question about the origins of MAGE Magazine you responded by saying the magazine was a way to provide artists who were new to Second Life with a medium to express themselves. Is MAGE Magazine exclusive to new residents?
0zymandius : No, we are willing to work with anyone as long as they are pleasant to work with and willing to share information. In my brief SL experience I have found that there is a lot of discrimination towards “Noobs”. Ironically by working together and sharing information, a lot of the “Noob" contributors from MAGE Magazine quickly learn about the mechanics of creating images in SL and the quality of their work inevitably surpasses more experienced SL Residents who prefer to work alone.
Thomson : How long did it take you to learn the mechanics of Second Life Photography?
0zymandius : I’m still learning. I’m a photographer and visual artist in real life so I am familiar with principles such as colour contrast, perspective, shading and other aspects that go into creating a visually interesting composition but the mechanics of producing images in Second Life are very different then producing images in the real world. For example, in Second Life you can control the time of day, the direction of the sun, the reflective nature of water, you can derender objects and adjust your windlight settings to create haze or increase or decrease your field of view. These are the basics but what takes time is exploring the different sims to find a locations that are designed with interesting textures, finding avatars with shapes, skins and clothes that are photogenic, or what some SL photographers call “Photo realistic”. I’ve encountered some places that are very well designed and consider builders and clothes designers artists in their own right.
Thomson : Would having a more experienced Second Life Resident acting as a mentor or guide be helpful?
0zymandius : Yes. In a way the people at Builder’s Brewery, Firestorm Support and the moderators for the Inworld Forums can be considered MAGE Magazine contributors because of all the times they’ve answered my questions regarding locations, how to edit and modify clothes, how to use the windlight settings and how to best use effects such a fog machines, rain animations, fire animations and so forth.
Thomson : What do you hope to accomplish with MAGE Magazine?
0zymandius : MAGE Magazine is a very inspiring group to work with. I’ve volunteered for other online media projects and most of the time your questions remain unanswered or you are left with the feeling that no one really cares about what you are doing. With MAGE Magazine, the artists I work with are fun, the stories we publish reflect the sense of humour that we bring to our work and in a very short time we have generated a very receptive audience. Whenever I sign on to my Facebook page I see that more people have joined the group, more people are liking and sharing MAGE Magazine images and videos and the comments that they write are very supportive. To answer your question I hope that we have continued success and that our fan base continues to grow.