NTS shoot at the Georgian House

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The National Trust for Scotland has a huge army of volunteers that help staff their properties. If you’ve visited some of their sites, chances are you’ve noticed that some of them are in period dress. I was recently sent out to photograph one of them at the Georgian House in Edinburgh for a piece in the NTS member’s magazine.

Emma is a credit to the venue - she volunteers every week to help bring the place to life for the visitors. She makes all her own costumes, each one painstakingly accurate for the period. They are works of art in themselves, and when you see her in-situ amongst the period furniture and decor on the Georgian House, it’s like a glimpse back through time.

For the shoot I wanted to capture that aesthetic, so took the time to look into some typical Georgian artwork. With her knowledge of the era, Emma took to posing appropriately very quickly, and I used a few flashes to light the scenes in a similar manner to how a Georgian painter would have depicted it.

It’s not unusual to shoot in grand venues for weddings and events, but it was a rare treat to have a model in period dress to work with!