Behind the Scenes: Photographing Our Collection

Photography is a fundamental part of running any art gallery, including ours.  These photographs go on our website, in our catalogues, and through the variety of social media channels we use to share our collection.

We take photographs in our gallery when possible, as shown in the leading image when we had our magnificent George III giltwood mirror photographed.  We also have smaller pieces, such as lamps, photographed on site.  While mirrors and furniture often look nice on darker backgrounds, objects often photograph well against a lighter background.

A Pair of Chinese porcelain blue and white vases of baluster form 
Mackinnon Fine Furniture Collection

Shown above is one of the pairs of lamps we had photographed in the same session.  This pair of Chinese baluster form vases with blue and white decoration work well with the off white background.

As many of our pieces are large in size, we often have to have  our photographs taken in a large studio to properly light and display the furniture.  We recently had one of the largest pieces in the gallery go to the studio for photography.  This magnificent George III mahogany breakfront bookcase in the manner of Thomas Chippendale arrived in the photography studio along with a Meissen porcelain dinner service to display inside.  Once everything was set up properly, the photographs were taken and we packed everything up again to come back to the gallery.

A George III mahogany breakfront bookcase in the manner of Thomas Chippendale 
Mackinnon Fine Furniture Collection

The above image is the product of this photoshoot.  The wonderful colour and patina of the mahogany stands out while the Meissen service gives the viewer an idea of what the piece looks like when put to use.

We have been busy photographing pieces in our collection recently as we will soon be publishing our second annual print catalogue–stay tuned to find out more information!