One of the things I have had on my wishlist in Second Life, was to have my portrait made by Skip Staheli. I’ve admired his work for ages and always enjoy his photo’s on Flickr.
Sure I can do my own pics, but I just wanted one of those beautiful portraits that Skip creates. Because I am vain like that. And I was curious on what he would ‘made of me’.

So finally last week Monday, I got my one hour of being a real model while posing for him in his Purple Cows Studio! I was a bit nervous, not being used to pose like this..in front of a green screen and being posed by someone else. My first time in an SL Studio! Who would have thought that!

There was of course no need to be nervous, Skip is a delightful, chatty man and so easy to talk to and before I knew it, he had made a lot of raw shots – which he generously shared with me – and then I had to wait till he had finished the final portrait, which would take a week or two.

Exciting! Then, yesterday….after a quite sad weekend and still somewhat in a shock over what happened, he sent me an email and I saw on my phone it was with attachements. I assumed it was the portrait, but it wasn’t. Yet. He sent me a gift, photo’s yes, portraying me with tears and said he made those as some sort of comfort. I was speechless. So thoughtful. And although it’s  sad portrait, I love it so much!

A few hours later he sent me the final, real portrait. Again, I was speechless, and it sounds odd to say: but wow…I look so pretty?! I adore his way of postprocessing, he is an artist and I am glad I did this!

From Skip’s bio:

‘Skip Staheli is a virtual Graphic Artist.. he only excists in a virtual world. This world is called: SecondLife. All models in his works are avatars, residents of this virtual world. Of course.. behind every lil doll (avatar) is a very real person, with a very real heart, feelings and emotions. Skip Staheli puts his whole heart and soul in every piece he does. Every work is done with many hours of love, efford and passion… lóts of passion! He started his virtual photostudio in 2008. His tools are Photoshop CS 6, his so loved bamboo drawing tablet and some plug ins, like Lightroom 4, Filterforge and Exposure 5. His work is mostly very soft, emotional and romantic. He works hard to make the avatar look as realistic as possible, but without changing them too much. He is well known for his bold portraits, flowing hair and waving veils, water effects and the emotion people can feel when they look at his work. In the years he developed his own style, and people within Secondlife will recognize his work, his signature….‘

Skip on Flickr
Skip on Facebook

This is the raw shot Skip has used for the portrait, for which I got his permission to show in my blog:

Edit to add: I have received some offline messages, on how I managed to sneak into Skips busy schedule….I may need to make it clear: I booked this photoshoot some months ago, via his assistant CottonCandy Teardrop, and I paid for this – being a client. The fact he sent me an extra picture of me just showed how thoughtful and kind he is, I only asked and paid for one portrait and I blogged my experience as a very, very happy customer :).