23 March 2009

Turning Green - The Greener Photographer in the UK

At the end of last year I joined a group called Greener Photographer which is a place for photographers to consider the environment - surprisingly I am one of only two photographers to have put their name up on the list!

Looking for greener ways of working is something really important to me and so I have been reviewing the way that I work and looking for ways I can make a more positive impact on the environment. At home I already recycle and compost and so I already do the same thing in my business where I can. For example, I shred all the paperwork for the bin, but instead of putting it in the bin I add it to the compost heap.

New things I am doing - well, through Greener Photographer I discovered that not far from my base there is a place where I can recycle ink cartridges from Epson. I have also set up MobileMe which uses iDisk - this is a 'cloud' or cyberspace storage system. From later this week you will be able to contact me for information on my wedding, portrait or fashion photography, or photography workshops, and you will be given information for accessing the on-line brochures. This reduces the amount of printing and use of harmful inks in the production of brochures - and let's face it, more brochures find their way to the bin because things change before we have ever used up the whole supply.

I'm still looking for more ways I can become greener - for example, bulbs are being changed to energy saving bulbs as they blow, and I only put lights and the heating on when it's an absolute must! I switch off the computers at night, nothing is left on stand-by, and I no longer use studio lights, using natural light to create amazing photographs. Over the next few months I hope to find yet more ways of becoming greener and reducing the carbon footprint that Zoe Photography creates.