Children's Island

[Marie-Catherine]

First, there's a signature, and that usually means the photography has been retouched.
And Nicholas and Alix come from a formal picture. I'm not currently on my usual computer, so I don't have my picture with me, but if I saw the original picture, I could show it to you. But from memory, I think that the original picture used come from the shoot when Anastasia was a baby.

[Sarushka]

click here for the photo

IMO, the whole thing is a composite, meaning both Nicholas, Alexandra and the dog have all been lifted from existing photos superimposed on this background.

Clues: Alexandra's dress and pose looks very much like something from the 1901 formal session, and Nicholas's looks awfully familiar too. To me, the imperial couple look like a pair of paper dolls -- there's something too stiff and unnatural about both of them. Also, Nicholas's face is shadowed on the left, while Alexandra's is shadowed on the right. That's virtually always a sign of some kind of manipulation.

[Sarushka]

First, there's a signature, and that usually means the photography has been retouched.

I think the signature is actually just a mark identifying the website where the photo was originally posted. I have a number of scans with the same label, and they're not necessarily retouched. There are also a lot of photos on the forum marked "NAOTMAA" which was the name of a Romanov website that's no longer online.

[Marie-Catherine]

First, there's a signature, and that usually means the photography has been retouched.

I think the signature is actually just a mark identifying the website where the photo was originally posted. I have a number of scans with the same label, and they're not necessarily retouched. There are also a lot of photos on the forum marked "NAOTMAA" which was the name of a Romanov website that's no longer online.

Thank you for the precisions, Sarushka.

[Cathy]

Thank you Marie-Catherine and Sarushka - I will now have to look more carefully at all my prints of old pictures. I find it hard to believe anything anymore because computers have allowed the retouching of photos and the rewording of documents and the falsification of signatures etc. etc.
But I still love the flow of information.
Cathy

[Joanna]

Interesting historical information on the Children’s Island:

In 1854, the eldest son of Alexander II wrote an essay including these notes about the island. In addition to the educators surrounding the children, the island had a staff of servants consisting of sailor Guards. They followed the children and taught them “maritime traditions”. There were four sailor Guards constantly on duty and three ferry boats.

Joanna

[Laura Mabee]

It is amusing to me to think that such a small island had four sailor staff with three ferry boats. That is interesting Joanna! Thank you for sharing! : )

[Laura Mabee]

I've been asked on another thread to post these images, so I figured I would post them in the appropriate topic:

From January 2009:




I also tried knocking on the door to gain entry. When nobody answered I stuck a pose



I do have more images, I am just in the midst of finding where I put the CD with them on it. 

[EmmyLee]

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this, Laura. It's great to see the details on the house, as well as an idea of its size with the man standing off to the side. I hadn't known it was quite that large.

[Laura Mabee]

Happy to post! I just hope I can find that CD with the other images. I took about three or four dozen of the island and the house. Many more close ups of the house detailing, etc.
I will take a look about this evening for it. 

[Holly]

Love those pictures, Laura! I'm jealous you got get on the island itself. When I went it was summer and there was no way to cross the pond unless I wanted to be soaking wet the rest of the day. Hopefully next time I visit I will.

Here are a few I got from June 2010:

[blessOTMA]

I LOVE seeing Children's Island photos. Thank you both so much!!

[Ena]

So jealous Laura!  I visited in winter as well, but was too scared to walk across the pond, especially with no one around, save for some kids sledding in the distance.  With my luck, the ice would've cracked and I'd have fallen in!  Curious, did you peek inside the windows?  If so, what did you see?

It's nice to see a perspective of the size of the house with you and your friend in front.  The house looks so small from across the way and in photos.  Can't wait to see any more photos you may have.

[EmmyLee]

Curious, did you peek inside the windows?  If so, what did you see?

That's something I've wondered about, because in pictures it looks like the windows are just painted on. This is especially apparent in the side view of the house posted by Laura. You can see that the paint has been flaking off.

[blessOTMA]

has to be painted board...or Laura would have posted photos of the interior lol! ....it's magical just to see you in the doorway!
It must of been amazing