Sustainable product photography: exploring the impact

Can product photography be a sustainable practice? 

To be completely transparent, my journey into the eco and sustainability space is very much in its infancy. I am in no way an expert - perhaps I'm more a curious learner trying to educate myself as best I can about how I can navigate my way through the abundance of information and misinformation.

Through my own experience in the commercial product photography space, and after immersing my eyes over thousands upon thousands of product photography social media posts, I started to realise just how much of an impact product photography can have on the environment.

From vinyl backgrounds and plastic props to studio equipment and fake organic props just to name a few - there are an incredible amount of “things” that can go into just one styled client shoot that may never be used for another shoot ever again. A beautifully styled image may capture the consumers attention for between 8-12 seconds, but the props used in those images could very well end up in landfill for 8+ years.

I had started product photography as a photography service in April 2021, and by August of 2022 I began questioning just how much of an impact my small business was having on the environment.  I hadn’t even been in the product photography business for long, and I had already built up a considerable collection of various props that were only used on single projects. That realisation bothered me greatly, and I began to reconsider whether I wanted to continue offering product photography as a service moving forward. 

Upon deeper reflection I came to the conclusion that I really did love creating in the product photography space, however I needed some time to regroup and think about how I – and by extension, my business – could create a more sustainable practice within my current business model that would reduce environmental impact, and would meet the needs of my clients and my business.  I took some time to read, research, and see what other photographers in the sustainability space were doing, and started fleshing out how I could incorporate what I'd learned into my business moving forward.

I set about working on some pillars for my business that would form the foundation of all of my decisions moving forward.  The first part of that process was figuring out what I enjoyed doing, where my passions were and the purpose it gave me. From there, I needed to figure out how I could offer those things I’m passionate about as a service, whilst keeping my and my businesses environmental impact to a minimum. Once I grouped my passions together – landscape photography, travel photography, interior photography, product photography and writing – I set about strategising how all of these elements could work together as individual pillars to form a holistic service base for my business. From there I started working on how each element of the business would embody its own unique environmental focus in my photography practice moving forward.

Most businesses have a mission statement to communicate it's purpose and values, and what I came up with was:

Deb Newton Photography is a multi-creative photography studio based in Newcastle, New South Wales.  We work with accomodation, eco-tourism travel service providers and sustainable outdoor product based businesses Australia-wide to create bespoke, impactful imagery to connect with those inspired by environmentally focused travel, adventure and lifestyle.

As soon as I wrote those words down in my notebook, everything clicked into place.  From there, it was then a matter of thinking about how each pillar would be executed through my lens and communicated to my clients and potential clients.  From a product photography point of view, I started fleshing out how I could create some different processes into my photography practice that were better aligned with a more sustainable way of creating impactful images for my clients whilst lessening my impact on the environment.

• Shooting with natural light will be the preferred choice of lighting. 

  Creative use of natural light when done well, can be a beautiful thing to witness. Erica Ferraroni is an incredible still life photographer, and her product photography is something I admire and aspire to - creatively unique, and visually striking, her use of natural light is a prop in and of itself.

  
  

• Working with product based businesses with aligned environmentally focused business values.

  
  

• Non-organic props sourced through second hand stores and thrift shops.

  What I love about this is the challenge and opportunity for me to source and create something bespoke for my clients not based on what's available to the mass market.  I also already have quite a few props stored already, and so, using my prop library excel spreadsheet, I know exactly what I already have at my disposal to use for projects as well.

  
  

• Organic props are the preferred prop to be used for product photography projects.  Food, flowers and plants can be composted or put in our green bins where they can be disposed of correctly, making these props the most minimally impactful on the environment as possible.

  
  

• Organic props are to be sourced locally. 

  All floral organic props will be sourced from local florists who source their flowers from local growers, and the flowers I use for projects will be determined by what is available seasonally.  Similarly, organic food props will be sourced from local farmers markets, and as with the flowers, the food props will be selected based on what is seasonally available. 

  
  

• Editing software. 

  I have always used Lightroom and Photoshop for my product photography images – Lightroom for colour grading, and Photoshop for cleaning up an image.  Where I previously would have had used elements of these editing tools in conjunction with physical vinyl backdrops and/or paper rolls, to achieve a certain colour aesthetic for my clients, I now exclusively use Photoshop to create all background colour aesthetics.

  
  

• Any props or studio equipment that I already have that I no longer require in the future will be sold on, or donated to not-for-profit businesses.

  
  

What's above is by no means a definitive list, and whilst the changes may not perfect, I believe these small but impactful changes that I have made in my business are a good starting point.

If you’re a product photographer starting out, you can find my beginners guide to product photography here, and you can find examples from my product photography portfolio here.

If you would like to know more about my photography, then head on over to the About page to learn more about the origins of my love for photography. Alternatively, you can follow me on Pinterest or  Instagram for more behind the scenes.  You can find examples of my product photography work here, or, if you’re a product based business and would like to enquire about how we could work together, you can contact me via the services page.

Until next time,

- Deb