The ecological responsibility of the photographer

Let’s put an end to a preconceived idea: digital photography has not resolved the problem of the environmental impact of the photographer. As a professional photographer, Ghislain Bruyere looks to reduce his ecological footprint on a daily basis. It therefore seemed attractive to share certain observations and the solutions that can be implemented to improve things.  

The ecological questioning experienced by professional photographers concerns (or should concern) amateur photographers. Admittedly, the case by case impact can seem minimal, but it is the sum of similar practices that demonstrate the importance of the situation. Indeed, thanks to the improvement of our cameras, or of that present on the sensors of our smartphones, we have all become (or at least feel like) semi-professional photographers.

The opposition to analogue and digital photographs

Taking photos with an analogue or digital camera will never give the desired result. The debate here is not to determine which one offers the best results, but to reaffirm that it isn’t the camera that will have an impact on the environment but the use to which it is put by the photographer. The production of films but also the development of the photos requires that we resort to numerous chemicals and non-sustainable materials. In defense of analogue camera enthusiasts, the cost forces one to be parsimonious with printing.

Ghislain Bruyère devotes himself exclusively to digital photography, he then selects the best pictures on screen so that their development concerns only those images that we truly want to keep. It is better to have a beautiful photo that we regularly admire than a stack of photos kept at the back of a drawer. Moreover, it is also important to entrust the development of the pictures to a professional who is able to set-up a recycling process of the chemicals used and will have an environmental management procedure for the waste.

The digital camera, false ecological friend

Like a driver who wrongly thinks that he is eliminating his carbon footprint when he buys an electric car, the digital photography enthusiast must remember that the production of his camera requires a lot of energy and raw materials that are in some cases rare and in others have an environmental impact. It isn’t unusual to find gold, platinum, copper, aluminum, lead but also nickel or lithium in these technological marvels that allow us to take wonderful photos. If the energy required to produce these cameras is undeniable, it is therefore important to worry about their fate once we consider that they don’t function quite as well as we would wish.

Struggling against built-in obsolescence

Ghislain Bruyère always prefers repairing faulty cameras to replacing them. This decision requires one to make the right choices during the purchase. Indeed, even if a European law is struggling to be set-up, it is vital to know if, in the case of a break down, the manufacturer is in a position or not to produce spare parts which will avoid having to throw the camera away. Today, many brands are made aware of this problem, but others continue to play with built-in obsolescence. Is it logical that it is less expensive to buy a new camera than repairing the previous one whose characteristics fulfill your needs as a photographer perfectly, whether you are a professional or an amateur.

Better management of your plethora of photos

If we have talked about the concern of a massive development of analogue photos, we mustn’t forget the impact on the environment that our digital photos can have. Indeed, saving them also requires many resources. Whether you keep them on a hard drive, a memory stick or in the cloud, this will necessitate on the one hand production of the devices, and on the other energy to run the afore-mentioned devices. And seeing as this is inevitable – we don’t take photos to then delete them all – it is possible to adhere to a more responsible approach. Thus, Ghislain Bruyère only keeps the pictures that best illustrate his artistic work. Likewise, he favors a drastic selection of the pictures worth keeping that accompany his clients. A photo session within a company can, for example, represent hundreds of pictures. Among these some will immediately present faults that lead to their deletion. Others will not perfectly correspond to the client’s expectations. Here again, they can be deleted. Finally, these represent hundreds of photos that will not clutter every year, the servers of the photographer as well as those of the client.

It is no doubt difficult to erase the photos of the latest little one taking his first steps, but is it necessary to have fifty photos of the same scene? Moreover, reducing the number of saved photos often allows for an easier creation of compositions (photo albums, scrap books…)

A large number of important gestures

But becoming an ecologically responsible photographer is also about adopting a series of actions that are simple, but effective when repeated. Examples? Use rechargeable batteries rather than disposable ones, in particular for your flash or camera; don’t travel hundreds of kilometers to immortalize a caribou when many stags await us in the woods a few kilometers from our home; have a healthy management of the inevitable waste produced when carrying out a photo safari.

You wish to call upon a professional photographer who implements all requirements to reduce his ecological footprint? Contact Focalice via its contact form.