RandomButterflies

  Three of my photo on Flickr have been 'explored'.

The first time it happened, I was very puzzled to find one of my photos seemed to have garnered a surprisingly high number of 'views' and I had been invited to join the 'in explore' group.

It took me a while to realize that being 'explored' meant that somehow my photo had been flagged by the Flickr 'explore' algorithm, and that the invitation to join the group was completely separate, and came from the admin of the (user) group and not Flickr admin.

Apparently the Flickr 'explore' algorithm picks 500 newly uploaded photos each day, which it deems 'interesting', for reasons which are obscure and places them in an 'Explore' list.  This list is simply to allow users to browse new photos which they might not otherwise see.

A brilliant idea!  Occasionally I have a peek in there and I see many wonderful photos which I otherwise would never have come across.

It's very gratifying of course to be deemed of enough interest (even by an algorithm) to be added to the list, but at the same time, deeply puzzling.

Why that photo?  I guess I will never know.  If you click on the photos below you will be taken to the relevant Flickr page.

Here is the first photo;​

The next photo to be 'explored' was a quick snap of Angelika in a new DZ70 blouse which I took with my phone to show a friend how it fitted.  For reasons which will remain ever obscure to me it became very popular indeed and quickly garnered over 10,000 views and 100+ favourites.  Go figure.  I have to laugh given all my attention to carefully photographing my dolls, and then having a quick snap attract so much attention... who knew?

And then, inexplicably, a similar photo was chosen, this time of Iplehouse Doria in the same blouse;

Why?  I guess I'll never know - the methodology of the algorithm is kept secret, for good reason, since those Flickr members obsessed with collecting 'followers' would game the system.

But the attention sure is nice while it lasts!

I loved the look of this wig from Iplehouse...

When I got it, it actually looks like this...

Hmm...  yes, Iplehouse are correct - it does need to be styled by the owner!

So, after a bit of combing and pulling, it looked like this;  not bad, but still not like the Iplehouse photos.  It has a strong wave which needs to be straightened out at the back, and it needs trimming.  I wish Iplehouse would show how it was done.

I suppose given the wig's original appearance, that some-one with a bit of hair-dressing knowledge could do the same sort of thing to many soft synthetic mohair wigs.

However, for some reason I decided to try it on Bane.  I really wanted to give him a contemporary style and his curly wig really wasn't doing it for me.

A bit of brushing back from the forehead, and some careful snipping at the sides and back; and voila!

It could do with a little tidying at the back, but I'll leave for when I'm feeling a bit braver.

I purchased SID man Vincent from Iplehouse in 2014 through the Doll Choice system.  I had always liked him, but did not purchase him when he was first made available in his Limited Edition in 2013.

I first envisaged him like with short blond hair like his promo photos, but with his black brows and eyelashes, he just did not make a convincing blond.

His Limited Edition promo photo; here we can see that the major difference is that his lower eyelashes are painted lighter.
Photo copyright by Iplehouse.

I subsequently re-envisaged him as a different character (Luc) with black hair and blue eyes, which was much more successful.  Observe the difference in the lower eyelashes - this is the only difference that I have been able to make out.

I do note that the promo photos show a little gloss applied to the lower eyelids and mouth, lending the face-up a little more liveliness. This does not seem to be added by the production face-up artists but I like it and will add it myself to my dolls once winter passes and the weather and light are a bit more conducive to painting.

Then a friend got the chance to acquire a Vincent cast during his original promotion.  We could see that his face-up was slightly different from my Vincent.  My friend equivocated over getting him, as she preferred the face-up on my Vincent, so I arranged with her to swap the heads.

The result: yes, the face-up on her Vincent was the original promo face-up and much more amenable to Vincent reverting to being a blond.

I took a couple of experimental photos showing his awkward reunion with his 'girlfriend' Sylvie (a beautiful Soom Breccia).  Much to my surprise, the second photo below was invited to the "explore" group in Flickr which meant it suddenly garnered a lot of views, far more than any of my other photos.

I don't know why that was selected above the others - I'm always a little surprised as to why some of my photos are favourited above others.

Lucky me - DE enjoyed The Bachelor contest so much she sent me red and multi-colour speedos for Luc and Ethan, and surf boardshorts in a lovely flamingo pattern!

Since I already had a pretty pink polka-dot swimsuit for SID woman from DE's Etsy store DEWear, it was the perfect opportunity to introduce Tiare to the i-mag-i-nation forum, and thank DE at the same time!

Sexy!  

Thanks, DE!

Ethan (Iplehouse Edan is real skin, Taire (Mari) is new peach gold, and Luc (Vincent) is light brown resin.

Here's the photo of Chirac's date, wearing the grand prize - a pretty evening gown.  It's being worn by the winning entry "Raven", owned by "DE".  DE supplied a lovely photo and I did my best to integrate it into a photo of Luc.

So here is Luc, fondly remembering a memorable evening with the lovely Raven ThreeFeathers, an ebony Iplehouse Jessica;

Here are my photos of Luc preparing to go on each of dates;

The winning belle will be escorted to a grand ball by her very own handsome prince....

I've been having a bit of fun over at the i-mag-i-nation forum lately;

here

On my way to work a couple of weeks ago, I saw an enormous billboard for the coming series of "The Bachelor NZ".  So enormous, it was impossible to miss (that's my excuse anyway).

I realized that I had all the elements to recreate this billboard myself, so I did...

This gave me the idea of running a fun contest, where other forum members would submit a date candidate, and then I would outfit the bachelor for his date.

This all turned out to a LOT of fun!

Here is the mystery bachelor revealed:  Luc Chirac (Iplehouse Vincent);

Another kilt, this time for Iplehouse SID man.  Modelled by Iplehouse Vincent (light brown).

The jewelled belt and armbands are made from a plastic trim and close with velcro.