· Go Green

My Commitment to the Environment

I love the outdoors—forest, field, shore, and mountain alike—and I am committed to doing everything I can to conserve natural resources and protect the environment. Here are some of the eco-friendly things I do in my wedding photography:

• To conserve electricity, I light my studios primarily with natural sunlight. When necessary, I use only environmentally friendly compact fluorescent (CF) bulbs for office lighting and special daylight-balanced CF bulbs for print proofing.
• To minimize use of energy for heating and cooling, I do not use air conditioning in my studio; in fact, I don't even own an air conditioner. During the heating season, I set the thermostat in my Maine studio at 60 degrees. (Heating in my Denver studio is provided by radiators over which, unfortunately, I have little control.)

• To help keep our forests green, I print all black-and-white documents double-sided and recycle all paper and cardboard. (Photographs are printed single-sided to ensure quality.) In addition, I reuse most single-sided paper I get, shredding it before recycling to preserve client confidentiality.
• To save fossil fuels and help fight global warming, I combine multiple errands, client meetings, and site visits into a single trip whenever possible. The car I normally drive to weddings and other photo shoots gets 25 miles per gallon on the highway.

• To help protect our environment from toxic electronic waste, I built my primary image-editing computer myself rather than buying a prebuilt system. That way, when one component fails or becomes obsolete, it can be replaced without throwing away the entire computer.
• To minimize other waste, I recycle inkjet and laser printer cartridges, batteries, beverage bottles and cans, and packaging whenever possible. My studio does not use disposable cups or takeout food containers, and I carry a reusable mug when I'm on the road.

Environmental issues are very important to me, and I have several other things in the works. But if you think of anything else I should be doing to help preserve our planet for future generations, please let me know!