Things I do to keep my business eco-friendly
Eco-friendly Wedding Photographer
Making my values as a wedding photographer clear is one of the best ways I have found of booking like-minded couples, so with that in mind I wanted to write a bit about living consciously and running a business in a environmentally friendly way. Treading as lightly as we can on this earth while we are here, and striving to leave it better for the next generation, is incredibly important to me and in my work and home life I am constantly trying to find ways to do that. We have a running joke every Christmas and birthday that the wrapping paper has to be saved for me to uncrease and pack away to use again next year (and why not?!) and that’s just the tip of the iceburg. Here’s some ways I try and run my business in an eco-friendly way.
My contracts are a printer free process!
I do everything online so there’s no need to print and post anything off to me. All legal, just much easier and much better for the environment. I very rarely need to print things for my business but when i do I use best quality recycled paper.
Eco-friendly donations
I donate monthly to Ecologi via business - a charity that do wonderful things from planting tree to raising awareness.
https://ecologi.com/florencefoxphotography
Eco-friendly wedding tips
I promote ways that weddings can be eco-friendly zones, by writing blog posts about what couples can do to think about ways to minimise the footprint of their wedding, as well as talking about venues and their eco-credentials.
Energy
In my office I use Octopus energy to supply the electric, which comes from 100% renewable sources, and at home I use Bulb which is similar and also uses green energy.
Recycling & Rubbish
It goes without saying that both my home & office are top recycling zones where I do as much as possible to keep the waste down! I use my keep-cup whenever I am stocking up on my caffeine fix around Shrewsbury too of course.
Travel
Living in rural Shropshire means a car is unfortunately a necessary evil at the moment, especially with most venues being out in the sticks. If I am travelling by plane for work I will always offset by carbon emissions, and I am definitely looking at investing in an electric car when this one dies!
Albums
My albums are handmade in the UK (Scotland!) to cut down on transport costs and packaging. I use linen only to be as natural as possible and they are designed to be heirloom pieces to really stand the test of time. Yes this does not come cheaply but I really do see it as an investment in your beautiful photos, rather than buying a Photobox book that will need to be replaced in 5 years time.
Kit
I use rechargeable batteries and buy quality equipment that I know will last; rather than cheap Amazon jobbies that need replacing. On that note I VERY rarely use the big baddie that is Amazon (only when I need something I can’t buy locally, desperately quickly!) which I’m not 100% sure how it relates to the environment but I’m sure it can’t be good!
Second hand
I absolutely love buying second hand so most of the furniture in my office has come off eBay or Facebook market place! This is something I always encourage people to do before buying new, especially from somewhere that mass produces things like Dunelm or The Range. Buying re-furbished kit or doing swaps with people is also fantastic, and saves you money in the long run.
None of this might sounds massive, but to me living consciously is all about the small choices and changes you can make in your work and business to build a better, cleaner earth for us to live in. Once you notice things that you can do differently it’s easy and incredibly rewarding to keep that at the front of your mind when making decisions.
