Once upon a time...
Late in 2009, perhaps in October, I found out about a photo contest in SL where the best pictures would be awarded Linden cash as prizes. There were a number of categories in which I could compete, and with my RL photographic experience (for there was none thus far inworld), I decided to enter. Now my friend Damn Teardrop, avatar and freebie hunter extraordinaire, recognizing how some competitions are merely popularity contests, repeatedly tried to dissuade me. I understood his behavior as somewhat protective, almost paternalistic, but most certainly well-intentioned. However being as tenacious, or stubborn, as I am, and recognizing that I never approach things for their ease of operation or execution, I treaded on. As I submitted the first of the eventual seven images that I would enter for the competition, I realized that I should also have a place to display them for others to see. They were not great in any sense of the word. They couldn't have been for realistically I still cannot attach that label to any of my images to this day. But perseverance played a key role in my decision to compete that by the time the competition was over, I was becoming well-versed in the ways of the networking community of SL photographers. I was vested now, I had become a participant, albeit a marginal one, in this new community of praxis.
....tbc...
