thebrickdwarf

[thebrickdwarf]

On stormy seas

My inspiration for this photo is the performance by the singer JJ on Eurovision. There is a boat on scene filled with books, I believe. The song is pretty good, at least if you like high-pitched dubstep opera. To be honest, I would have prefered if a song about Sauna would have won. Preferably sung in some obscure swedish dialect.

The photo is taken on a large tray filled with water, I created the waves by pouring water in front of the boat which was held in place by a weight that I have glued to a Lego brick

Sony a7c with Laowa 100 mm 2.8 macro

[thebrickdwarf]

Midsummer Knight

It is Midsummer, the most important holiday where I live, only rivaled by Christmas. But unlike Christmas it is not a very commercialized holiday at all. People buy a lot of food and beverages, but that's pretty much it. It is also the only holiday that have not been replaced by a Christian holiday and so there still remains a lot of old folklore and folkmagic traditions. So the idea of this Midsummer Knight came to me. It is a play on words as it is during the Midsummer night that all the magic happens. It is also inspired by the Maypole that is a symbol of Midsummer. I'm pretty happy with the build that is actually quite stable. The photo could have been better, but I was taunted by a thousand mosquitos so I ran out of patience after a while. As I contemplated how to build this I also thought I should write a small text or story to go with it, but I could not really come up with anything so I asked ChatGTP to write a Haiku, here it is:

Moonlight on his helm - midsummer whispers through leaves, sword rests in the grass.

It's not to bad, considering it's written by a bot. Except of course that there is no moonlight on a midsummers night since the sun does not set. Happy Midsummer!

[thebrickdwarf]

Let's play Raid Lindisfarne!

I meant to take this picture for Mothers day. I took something similar for Fathers day a few years ago.

[thebrickdwarf]

Old Sailor

[thebrickdwarf]

Cats love fish

..but they also eat all kinds of other meat.

[thebrickdwarf]

Black Falcons Friday

[thebrickdwarf]

Bara bada bastu

If you're watching the Eurovision Song Contest then look out for these guys. They will conquer Europe and make us all take a sauna at least once a week.

[thebrickdwarf]

Pay the ferryman

I continue to play with water. I reused the bridge I made for another shot. I've been reading about different mythologies lately and so that is my inspiration. This time it's mainly Charon from Greek mythology. But ferrymen exists in different forms in many mythologies.

[thebrickdwarf]

The lady in the lake

I wanted to do a more surreal version of the Lady in the lake from the Arthurian Legend. Perhaps King Arthur only dreamt that he received the sword Excalibur? The picture is made with three photos. One for Arthur, one for the Lady in the lake, and one more to get the rings on the surface of the water. I made those with a waterdrop. Then it's just a matter of merging it all in Photoshop. To add even more surrealism I flipped the photo 90 degrees, making the surface of the water seem a bit like a portal to another world.

[thebrickdwarf]

To be or not to be..

[thebrickdwarf]

Lemminkäinen on the River of Tuoni

Lemminkäinen is on a quest to kill the Black Swan of Tuonela, the Underworld in Finnish mythology. This is the last task he must complete to be allowed to marry the daughter of the Sorceress Luohi.

[thebrickdwarf]

In Finland and Sweden witches are strongly associated with Easter. Kids will dress up as witches and go from house to house and knock on the door. When they come to your house you better have some candy to give them or they will not cast a protective spell on your home, and without that spell, anything could happen (For example your mailbox might mysteriously explode)

This tradition has it's roots in the 17th century Witch persecutions. During that time it was believed that witches would fly to Blockula over Easter (Swedish Blåkulla = Blue hill). They could fly on broomsticks or other farm tools, or animals, or even on other humans). On Blockula they would presumably hold a party with the devil. Most women (and some men) that were persecuted for this was accused of kidnapping someone, often a child, and bringing them with them. But it could also be that they rode to Blockula on someones farm animal, like a goat or a cow. You knew this had happened if your animal had fallen ill after Easter. Had to be a witch!

Blockula is actually a real place. It's a small Island between mainland Sweden and Öland. I worked on Öland once. I could see Blockula from the window. The Island is called Blå Jungfrun nowadays (Blue maiden). This is a so called Noa-name, a name used instead of the real name Blåkulla because it was considered risky to say the real name. Still to this day this island is believed by some to be cursed. If you visit you should absolutely not bring home a stone from the island. If you do you will have bad luck in life untill you return the stone. Every year the municipality that the island belongs to gets several Blockula stones sent to them by people that wants them returned to the island because of this.

[thebrickdwarf]

Robin Hoof

I was inspired by an medieval image of a hybrid between a four legged animal and a human that looked kind of like what we imagine Robin Hood looked like (think Errol Flynn Robin Hood). The arms are from Crazy arms. Great for some alternative posing.

[thebrickdwarf]

Lemminkäinen goes to Pohjola

Lemminkäinen is a hero from Finnish mythology. Once he traveled to Pohjola, a cold and evil land. He heard they were holding a party there, but he was not invited. At the gate to Pohjola Lemminkäinen notices several heads on pikes. One pike is empty. Perhaps this was a warning to Lemminkäinen, but he did not care. He wanted to party and possibly find a wife.

In some versions everything goes well, he drinks, have a good time, wins a swordfight and finds a wife. In other versions he gets killed.

Lemminkäinen goes on other adventures as well. Mostly they seem to be about him trying to find a wife.

Lemminkäinen is a sort of warrior-shaman, he can sing spells to make people fall asleep for example.

[thebrickdwarf]

Space cowboy saturday

[thebrickdwarf]

Barbarian feast

It seems William has been invited to a Friday feast by a tribe of Barbarian Amazons. William is thinking that this might not be the best time to talk about his dedication to animal rights and his strict vegan diet. This is really quite an ethically delicate situation William is finding himself in. Then again, is it even animal meat...

[thebrickdwarf]

Thy neighbours pumpkins

Just some everyday medieval drama unfolding