Sustainability ⋆ Lake District Wedding Photographer

Sustainability

Sustainability in Radiance Photography

Sustainability as a business and a way of life has been coming to the forefront of the wedding industry for a while and has been important to us as a family for even longer.

Sustainability is an issue that is hot right now, particularly within the wedding industry, and I intend to share all the things we do here at Radiance Photography to increase sustainability.

Ways in which we are sustainable

1. Choose wisely, Recycle Everything

The biggest difference we can make to help our planet is reducing our use of our precious resources and generally making the world a better place is in our personal lives.

This means in practice we avoid excess packaging and choose natural, bio-degradable materials where possible for instance I recently swapped cotton wool pads for reusable bamboo ones.

We recycle everything we can from paper and plastic to glass and electricals.

One of the most precious resources we have is food. This is something we try really hard not to waste as there are so many people both in the UK and across the world who are hungry. We’re currently investigating composting to make the best use of our food waste.

We also work to reduce our energy consumption at home and car share to get to work.

2. Radiance Photography

Within Radiance Photography, we use as little paper as possible and are currently looking into ways to go paperless through the use of online contract signing and all email communication.

We deliver galleries using an online system instead of using prints and USBs. Doing this we avoid unnecessary paper and printing and also the use of plastics and resources in the USBs.

We’re aware the use of the internet and the vast storage networks needed have an impact on the environment and use companies with great sustainability policies where possible.

We use public transport when we can although this is sometimes tricky in the Lake District. If we can, car sharing is always a preferred option.

3. Supporting our local economy

Wedding photography within the UK has changed over recent years with local areas being widened. In particular by photographers who want photos with epic backdrops in their portfolios and who are prepared to travel the length of the country or fly abroad to get them.

Travelling the length and bredth of the UK and the world causes significant land and air miles to be accumulated when a local photographer could have done a similar job. Remember there are lots of photographers in each area who are producing work in a variety of styles so you’re sure to find something you like.

You could argue that you will get a better service from a local photographer as they have connections with other local suppliers and invaluable local knowledge for that perfect picture.

I’ve been booked to second shoot for a photographer from across the country purely on the basis that I have knowledge of the local area. When travelling from outside the area photographers don’t always have the time to come and checkout your venue beforehand as they are just too busy or it’s too far.

We PRIORITIZE our photography work within our local area of Cumbria and the Lake District which keeps our mileage to a minimum.

4. Giving back

We truly believe that the Lake District is one of the most precious areas in Britian and we are grateful that we live next door to such a beautiful place.

Rather than choose a carbon offsetting scheme which, while benefitting our planet, doesn’t impact directly on our local area, our intention in 2020 is to get outdoors and volunteer for the Lake District National Park Authority.

The National Park Authority do lots of wonderful work repairing trails, maintaining the landscape, helping nature and other projects which help conserve and keep the beautiful area we live in that way for others to enjoy.

If this is something you’d be interested in too you can find more information here.

5. Suppliers we work with

The suppliers we use for our equipment, products and printing all have their own sustainability policies and work in ways to use our planets resources in an ethical way. Many have carbon offsetting schemes.