This Bechstein piano had been in our family for decades though not being an overly musically inclined, it had received little use in recent years.  After some discussion, it was decided to pass it on to new owners.  Upon locating the original purchase receipt, I became curious and decided to do a wee bit of research and learned that this particular piano, a Bechstein Model 9 Upright with 85 keys and inlaid Mahogany Case was originally manufactured in Germany, circa 1903.  While I was not able to directly follow the past ownership trail, it is easy to imagine and quite astonishing to think that this particular piano survived both World War I and World War II, made it’s way to Aberdeen, Scotland where it was fully reconditioned and then purchased by our family from C. Bruce Miller & Co. LTD.  The piano then made the journey across the pond after we emigrated to the United States.  I learned from various sources, including a local piano dealer and manufacturer C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik AG that after 70 years, most all piano’s loose their entire value and only rarely will they ever retain or even gain value.  It’s a little disheartening to realise that this Bechstein piano which is a rare commodity in North America, let alone an antique, is likely to have little value.  However, I was pleased to learn that this piano does indeed have some value as it is now on consignment with a reputable, professional piano dealer, whose family business has a good many years of experience.

I had considered photographing the piano previously, but once it was appraised and parting ways with it was on the horizon, I felt a sense of urgency.  I had never really examined the intricate inner workings of the piano before and knowing that it was built over one hundred years ago, I became enamoured by it and had a greater appreciation of its functional design, which could be likened to the inner workings of a fine mechanical watch.  Over the course of the next several weeks, I did four separate photoshoots of the piano.  With each session, I tended to focus on certain aspects of the piano, such as the case, keys, strings, treble & bass bridge, action, hammer and tuning pins, et cetera.  After my experience of photographing the piano, I feel inspired to explore other musical instruments and produce a themed series.

About This Photograph

The above photograph was taken during my first photoshoot with this piano.  For this shot, I simply wanted to capture the inlaid brass letters of the manufacturer name with the piano keys.  I also wanted to play with the depth of field.  This particular shot was taken with an aperture opening set at f/5.6 which was the optimum f-stop to retain a pleasing view of the inlaid brass letters of the manufacturer name while clearly capturing the fading focus in both the foreground and background.

While photographing this piano throughout each photo session, I envisaged converting many of the original colour images to black & white, however, this particular photograph did not pleasantly convert well.  The entire area containing the inlaid brass letters of the manufacturer name and the surrounding wood surface of the keyboard cover becomes flat, lacks contrast, and the inlaid letters blended so well in to the wood surface that the inlaid letters become barely noticeable.  The only viable option would involve some major image editing which in-turn alters the authenticity of capturing the real world scene.  Perhaps, I will experiment with various setting at a later date.