A real troll? (Part 2)

Last week, when we received the puzzling message from Nils Hiekkalinna, who thinks he might have snapped a photograph of a real Finnish troll, we knew just the person to bring in to help us solve the mystery. Reginald Bakeley is Castle in the Air's fairy identification expert, so we forwarded the photo on to him at his home in Wales. Here's the reply (and the slightly clearer photo) we got back from Reg this afternoon.

"Most intriguing! My personal 'expertise', as you are calling it, extends mainly to the real world which involves the sense of smell. And it's quite a good thing that Mr Hiekkalinna was traveling at highway speed when he got his shot in. Had he been standing in the path of an oncoming troll the scent alone could have knocked him senseless. Perhaps we can borrow a scrap of his clothing and see whether by chance it picked up any trace of the troll's earthy musk??

"HOWEVER: I won't leave you high and dry here. My colleague Professor Marcus White (Inverness curator and archivist) has an unfathomable love of all this email and computer mumbo-jumbo, and he got straight to work on sorting out this odd photograph business. He's got all the latest high tech, and is especially keen to use it regarding questions of fairy sightings.

"I attach his _slightly_ clearer version of the picture. Goodness knows how he's able to do this sort of thing. Hope this helps...I'll keep you up to speed as I hear more from Prof.

"RB"

A real troll?

Ever since we started the Castle in the Air weblog last fall, we've received emails from people who never would have heard of us otherwise. They often want to know more about the products and classes we offer, and sometimes they have questions about how to use a particular sort of craft material. Occasionally, though, the messages fall into the "special case" category. Here's one such note we received this morning:

To Whom It May Concern, I am writing to you from Finland and have something to tell you about that you may find interesting because your website is about the gnomes and trolls and such things as this. I always laughed when I heard of these creatures, even here where there is so much of them in the folk stories. But today I didn't laugh when I was driving through a part of the highway in Kurikka, because there I can tell you I saw something strange. A picture I have put in this email is of what I saw. I am very sorry for the quality because it is not very good, but I think what I saw might be one of the trolls of this country. I thought it was a bear maybe but it moved like no bear I have seen. Can you show it to your experts and tell me what they know of it? Maybe you can solve this strange mystery. I thank you!!! A new believer, Nils Hiekkalinna

Of course, Castle in the Air does have a few "experts" on hand in the field of troll identification, so we've sent Nils' picture on to them and will report back as soon as we can. Mysterious indeed!

A Walk-In Wonder

Now that the holiday season is in full swing at Castle in the Air, I can reveal to you the wonderful project we've all been working on. The picture above might look like a vintage postcard, but it's actually a walk-in tableau! You and your friends and family are invited to bring your camera to Castle in the Air and snap a holiday scene in front of the card, or step inside and pose in the wood-framed window in front of our snowy backdrop. Visitors who remember our Mermaid Grotto photo booth from early last year say that this one is just as grand -- come see for yourself!

Dream a Little Dream

Did you ever have one of those days? This has been a crazy one, even for a Monday, but when I saw this picture I felt a little better. It's my dream to live long enough to develop into a character like the woman in this photo. They say adversity builds character - after a day like today I'm that much closer!

Looking and Looking Back

We spent time this week preparing some postcards for our upcoming exhibit of children's portraits from the 19th and early 20th century. We're also finalizing our plans for the dates of the show and a reception, so check back soon for that.

What's most striking about looking at these prints, aside from the fact that they were produced by early photography's best-known artists, is the character in the faces of the children pictured. Here's the Portrait of Paul Nadar, Enfant, an 1865 collotype from Felix Nadar.

Some pictures have a bit of legend handed down through the decades. This 1910 gelatin silver print is by Jessie Tarbox Beals and is called Physically Defective Children, an amusing title once you realize that the youngsters' "defect" was that they had tonsilitis!

Other legends are more serious. I love this Julia Margaret Cameron albumin print of The Clogstoun Sisters, from around 1868. But I can't stop thinking about how one of the sisters died a few years after the photograph was taken.

Another Cameron albumin print, from 1872, has got to be my favorite. Portrait of Florence Fisher just returns my gaze every time, and reminds me of the portraits I take of my own girls.

Happy Michaelmas!

Today is Michaelmas, the autumn counterpart to St. George's Day in April and a celebration of the Archangel Michael and his power over Lucifer. In everyday terms, that means winter is coming, so everyone had best gird up and get ready for foul weather and all the highs and lows of the holiday season.

Today at Castle in the Air we're slaying dragons just like George did, even as we hang up devilish decorations in the store. The upstairs gallery space was painted yesterday, and in the coming days we'll be hanging our first gallery show -- an exhibit of photographs of children from some of the best photographers of the early decades of the art form.

Our show will feature prints from Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward Curtis, Gertrude Kasebier, Carl Moon, Edweard Muybridge, and Alfred Stieglitz, just to name a few. We're also delighted to have a number of prints from Lewis Carroll. In the picture above (sadly, not one that will be in the show), Carroll photographed the Kitchin family children playing out the St. George story. My eye is of course drawn to the brave knight and the beautiful maiden, but Mr. Marsh wonders who got roped into playing the part of the fallen soldier. (And what a great use for the family leopard-skin rug!)

Old Man Grinbough

Who says trees haven't got spirits? Here are some photographs John McRae took of a tree in France. Can you see the face smiling for the camera?

Colorful Summer Classes

I've been busy the past few days photographing the sample projects our teachers have sent in. We've already listed a handful of upcoming classes at the Online Shoppe, with more on their way. I hope you can make it to the loft studio for a day or two with our amazing teachers!

What on Earth??

When I was a kid, the science magazine at the library (Was it called World? I can't remember.) always had a fun set of photos on the back page. Each one was a close-up on some kind of animal or something you might have around the house. You looked at the photos and tried to figure out what on earth the close-ups could be showing you.

Here's something like that -- a new item that we're selling at Castle in the Air. Can you guess what it is? The answer comes tomorrow!

A brief glimpse

After days and days of tapping and buzzing and the occasional loud thump coming from the other side of the north wall, this morning we moved away a few cabinets from the wall and saw a small hole in it near the floor. A light streamed through and we could see into the new space that will soon become our new Online Shoppe shipping center! I ran to get my camera to see if I could photograph any of the kobold workers on the other side, but by the time I got back the hole had been covered up and the tapping and buzzing began again.

Delightful Downloads

The nice people over at Where Women Create have just posted 18 free image downloads on their website -- including seven of my illustrations and photographs. Take a look over at the Where Women Create website.

A Real Castle in the Air

The phrase "Castle in the Air" comes from the title of a memoir written by my grandfather, the Scottish poet Charles Richard Cammell. Years ago, I took up the phrase as a focus for my creative and professional life, reveling in the notion of "castles in the air," imaginative fantasies that can lead to amazing and soul-nourishing works of art.

When I find objects with this same essence, I try to bring them with me either into my home or into the store to share with the world. When the objects prove too large to carry--such as an actual Scottish castle--a photograph must suffice.

I took this picture of the indescribably gorgeous Eilean Donan Castle several years ago, and it has been an inspiration in my creative and professional life ever since. Standing on an island nestled between Loch Alsh, Loch Duich, and Loch Long, the castle was once the refuge of the religious hermit St. Donan. It was a stronghold for Clan MacKenzie from the 13th century until its destruction at the hands of the English in 1719.

The castle lay in ruins for nearly two centuries, until John MacRae-Gilstrap and Farquhar MacRae (perhaps ancestors of our own John McRae?) reconstructed it between 1912 and 1932.

To me, Eilean Donan Castle is the Castle in the Air, the way it seems to float above the earth. Its setting, its history of drama, and its rebirth as Scotland's most beautiful castle never cease to inspire me.

Yesterday isn't so far away.

This morning my daughter asked if we knew anyone who lived in "the olden times." I told her we did and found this photograph of my grandmother to prove it. It's a photo of my Grandma Ann that was taken for a celebration postcard similar to the ones from my previous post. Grandma Ann was a Jewish German refugee during WWII, and as different as that world might seem today, she was doing a lot of the same things I do for fun today. She loved dressing up in fun costumes and taking pictures with her friends as much as we do here at Castle in the Air.

It wasn't until this afternoon that it dawned on me that today is a very auspicious day on which to find this photo. Happy Birthday, Grandma Ann!