Things I Do Within My Business That Are Eco Friendly!
Being environmentally conscious has been a goal of mine for some time. This past year, I have made it a priority in my life and hope to share the things I have learned so far. Today, I am specifically talking about the changes that I have made related to my business. I’ll start off with the easier changes and then move down to some of the harder changes that I have made, or am hoping to make.
No more paper! All of my contracts/invoices are sent electronically. This is wonderful for many reasons. The first being that it reduces the number of papers being used. Two, COVID is the worst, less touching and passing things back and fourth. And three, everything gets saved digitally which makes it so easy if I need to pull something up. It also saves me space from having to store physical forms so it is a win all around.
Reuse, Reuse, Reuse. I reuse as much as I can. I have a reusable water bottle that I take to shoots. I have a reusable coffee mug for those cold days. I reuse SD cards. Once I upload my images to the computer, I clear my SD card, and reuse it again.
3. When it comes to shopping for things, I try to shop locally. For the most part, I don’t use props. I try to avoid making purchases unless I know it is something that I will use often and for a long time. I have purchased one tiny rocking chair recently and it was from a local fire fighter. I plan on reusing that chair in multiple shoots and in the meantime, it is getting plenty of usage by my kiddo in her playroom.
4. I primarily shoot outdoors, and during my sessions, I usually find bottles and plastics thrown on the ground in our beautiful parks and lakes. This past year (2020) I started bringing a trash bag with me and arriving early to my sessions to pick up trash when I can. I hope to do this more often this year and I would love to do a separate blog post about this and would love to show you how much trash I end up picking up.
5. I would also love to get to the point to where I am collaborating with other eco friendly organizations in the area. Or maybe even have some sort of eco photoshoot. I don’t know if people would be interested. If you would, or have some ideas as to what that could look like, please let me know.
6. Lastly, I would love to get my business cards on recycled paper. Currently I have old business cards from like 2 years ago that I am trying to use up before making any new purchases, but I hope to find more eco friendly business cards preferably from a local business. If you know anyone that can make me some, please let me know down below.
Let me know if you have any other ideas or would like to hear more about this.
xo,
Esther Kabwe Photography
