Wandering in The Magic Hour in Second Life

This magic hour is cherished by photographers and filmmakers for the quality of the warm natural light that enhances images with a dreamy, nostalgic glow. It’s a fleeting moment that many visitors find inspiring, as it casts our world in a transient beauty that’s perfect for creating emotive imagery. 

– The Magic Hour Destination Guide description

It’s taken me a couple of visits to The Magic Hour in order to write about it – the first being a brief hop in mid-June, and the second at the end of the month; ergo, I’m hoping this piece doesn’t arrive shortly before the region gets a make-over – if it does, my apologies to Six (SixDigital), the region’s creator, and to those visiting and expecting to find it as described here.

Six – along with Justice Vought – is one of the talents behind the former Oxygen region designs, which I wrote about in 2019 and again in 2021, a place which had a deserved reputation for being thoroughly photogenic. The Magic Hour is in a similar vein in this regard, offering beach-front setting backed by tall hills up to which the landscape climbs, the entire setting rich in opportunities for avatar and landscape photography.

The landing point sits midway between the east and west limits of the region and is tucked back toward the northern foothills as the start their climb to the off-region mountain adjoining them. Taking the form of a small beach house facing south towards the open sea, the landing point sits close to a large pool of clear, fresh water, the home of koi carp watched over by red-crowned crane. Beyond the pool, within its little island reached by a tree trunk bridge is a small house. I believe this might is a private residence when occupied by Six, so please keep that in mind when visiting.

The southern waterfront is a mixed affair, partly sandy, a little scrubby and partially rocky, its western extent a grassland headland partially ringed by a breakwater. It is home to a stripped lighthouse, the grass around it well suited to grazing. On the eastern side, a low sandbar points out into the sea, the home of the wooden frame of a summer house, the wall and roof shingles yet to be placed (if they ever will be), the dedicate folds of net drapes instead providing a mottled shade for the sofa, tables and planets within.

Between the sandbar and the lighthouse, four slender fingers of rock point outwards from the shore, thin breakwaters made from large stones worn thin by the sea so they now resemble rough-edged that have been loosely stacked out into the water like thin strands. between the last of these and the lighthouse headland, the shingle and rocks have built up into area of shallows, several large grey boulders rising from the water like petrified sealions.

Inland from the lighthouse stands a small wood. It surrounds the ruins of a chapel which in turn contain their own secrets and sense of fantasy. Beyond them, a waterfall feeds the land where deer and fae folk might be found.  A trail from here winds through the tress and down to where the grass rolls back towards the sands on which the landing point sits, presenting a pleasant walk between it and the chapel.

This is a simple, relaxing setting with multiple places where people can sit and contemplate or talk, or which lend themselves to photographs. As well as the deer, water birds and horses are to be found, while am ancient stone gazebo holds another little touch of fantasy and a further place to sit.

Finished with a gentle soundscape and environmental settings in keeping with the ide of an early morning, The Magic Hours as a quiet, somewhat enchanting visit.

SLurl Details

• The Magic Hour (Versus Falls, Moderate)