photo by Denise Crew / #PSC000551974
1. OVERVIEW
In stock photography, as in life, 'green living' is uncharted territory. When photographers are asked to provide examples of green living, there are few real life examples to draw on; consumers themselves have not figured it out!
Buyers do unanimously report that there are too many photos of the obvious examples: recycling bins, wind turbines, farmers markets. But there is huge demand for the elusive non-stereotypical 'green' images. This section will help you imagine new ideas for conveying environmental topics and green living. Here's the thing: If you can find creativity in this topic, your work will fly off the shelves.
We especially ask in this section that you share with us any great images of your own, or tear sheets and shot list ideas - let's help each other!
photo by Eric O'Connell
2. DEFINITIONS
Green living includes the entire range of emotions and lifestyle scenarios connected to the idea that human behavior is negatively impacting the environmental stability of the planet.
Green Living can include positive changes we are making as a society or as individuals to be less wasteful. It can include depictions of nature that are more serious or have more of an edge than the typical landscape shots. Green Living also includes food ( including both organic products and more thoughtful agriculture and eating).
There is also typically an aesthetic association with 'green' that dictates a clean, natural photographic style.
"This is an area that will explode in the next couple years, it's an
untouched area that does not seem to exist in stock. I'm nervous that we might
burn out of concepts and images really fast. Even if this inspires
a couple people to start shooting - that would be incredible. I'd like everyone to brainstorm and think outside the box (but not too conceptual - I need Lifestyle). I am going to need a lot of
these images in the fall - so let's get them in by then! " - Susan
Wetherby, Discovery Communications
3. INTRODUCTIONS
We really struggled to find 'experts' in this category, and even those who agreed to talk to us wanted us to caveat that they are by no means experts on green living. That said, these are the brave souls who agreed to pioneer for us - thanks guys!
BUYERS
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Psychologies, June 2008
4. TIPS
photo by Andrea Wyner
Body & Soul, June 2008
photo by Andrea Wyner
photo by Andrea Wyner
photo by Eric O'Connell
Health, June 2008
L: photo by Eric O'Connell; R: Ready Made, June-July '08
5. KEYWORDING TIPS
photo by Kathy Quirk-Syvertsen
6. SHOTLIST [download]
Here are some ideas to get you started. These are truly just a jumping off point - we encourage you to find your own ideas and get creative - it will pay dividends in your sales!
Lifestyle imagery pertaining to green living:
Literal/Dramatic:
Organic Farming:
Energy Alternatives:
Global Warming:
photo by Eric O'Connell
7. PARTICIPATE
Are you a buyer or photographer with extensive experience relevant to this category? We'd love to hear from you! Please email us with any additions to the Shotlist, Tips, or any other sections of this article.
We look forward to it!
We really struggled to find 'experts' in this category, and even those who agreed to talk to us wanted us to caveat that they are by no means experts on green living. That said, these are the brave souls who agreed to pioneer for us - thanks guys!
BUYERS
- Susan Wetherby - Discovery Communications (Lead Art Buyer)
- Anonymous Art Buyer from an international advertising agency
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Psychologies, June 2008
4. TIPS
- Natural look. The overriding commonality to most 'green' imagery is that it feels green - the style is natural light, blown out, white or muted colors, clean, wholesome goodness, innocence - the Yoga Journal look. Always make sure your props, lighting and styling support the message.
- No turbines or recycling bins. Been there, done that - we've got enough of this stuff.
- Use subtle cues. Try shooting normal lifestyle scenarios (i.e.,
daily activities, families, business, etc.) but include integrated cues
that indicate that this family or these people are making conscientious
choices not to be wasteful. Instead of the cropped shot of a recycling
bin, get the woman on the phone with the recycling bins are visible in
the corner or background of the shot. Or the picture of the family
packing the car but it's a hybrid instead of an SUV. A family shopping
with cloth bags. A person carrying plastic bottles or cans so they can
take them home to recycle. Someone carrying a purchase or take-out food
with no packaging. A rack of bikes outside an office, or even an empty
bike lane to indicate no one is using it.
photo by Andrea Wyner
- Show nature at its best. On the positive side, show people connecting with nature in a wholesome and symbiotic way. Make a visual connection with green - show people in the grass, a woman doing a cartwheel in grass. This could also just be shots of people doing pure activities outdoors in minimally styled settings - a surfer alone on a beach, a child in the mud, a man taking an outdoor shower, a bike on a beach.
"Think about it on different levels. There's the whole look of green
photography: wholesome and minimalist. Then use certain visual cues
that are integrated into the shot and action - versus being in your face. And then think of the locations that reflect green - it is literal - green,
grassy beautiful areas - sun god good growth green. That's pretty much
the lifestyle feeling for green." - Eric O'Connell, Photographer
Body & Soul, June 2008
- Show nature at its worst. Show natural scenes with an edge - think the North Atlantic seascape instead of the more placid and sunny west coast. Scary nature. Also, rain and flooding. Piles of umbrellas and raincoats. Flooded storm drains, people arriving at work drenched, moms dropping off their kids in the rain.
- Organic food and farming. Local farming that saves transportation energy. Get beautiful pictures of the actual food as well as people growing, shopping and eating.
photo by Andrea Wyner
- Natural materials. If you are doing a lifestyle shoot, include a series of shots where the models are wearing natural fiber clothing - hemp and other eco-fashions in very simple colors and dyes.
- Resourcefulness. If you are shooting a birthday party, show presents wrapped in newspaper. Show people taking clothes to Goodwill or reusing items in creative ways. Using old coffee cans for other household uses.
- Emotions. Green guilt is probably the most obvious - but remember that with lifestyle it usually has to have a positive spin, or at least not be devastatingly negative. Think about your own feelings about Global Warming and how that pops up in your day-to-day. Show a pile of cloth bags hanging on a door knob and a woman walking in with plastic bags - good intentions but old habits.
photo by Andrea Wyner
- Waste. Show the opposite of green - stuff headed for landfills, egregious wastefulness, pollution. One warning is that there is an abundance of this imagery, so it really has to be well shot and original to stand out.
photo by Eric O'Connell
"Our client is an oil company that does corporate responsibility
advertising. We are always looking for the slightly rougher edge of nature
- not oil fields or extremes, but a realistic or more serious depiction
of the environment." - Anonymous agency art buyer
- Stay positive. Just to reiterate - there is a place for the darker side of this topic, but lifestyle really is about optimism and idealism - so don't dwell on the green guilt, pollution, waste, or bad weather too much.
Health, June 2008
- Don't shoot produce in direct sunlight. Shoot it backlit, and try to get height rather than just shooting it flat. Put it in a certain type of dish or prop it up with something. Put a group of vegetables together to create some depth. Shoot from the side and from above.
- Remember production values. There is a place for editorial-style images here, but there is also a huge need for lifestyle-quality work - don't just take pictures of your own surroundings without thinking through your mental focus, your lighting, and the commercial usability of your image.
L: photo by Eric O'Connell; R: Ready Made, June-July '08
5. KEYWORDING TIPS
- Buyers will usually start with the typical terms: environmentalism, recycling, sustainability, green, eco, organic, green living - so use those where appropriate.
- But also get very specific, it will frustrate buyers if you use the wrong terms. 'Recycling' refers to what you do with trash; 'Reuse' refers to re-purposing items within your life rather than throwing them in a recycling bin (i.e., using the coffee cans for pencil holders).
- 'Resourceful' could be used in conjunction with 'reuse.'
photo by Kathy Quirk-Syvertsen
6. SHOTLIST [download]
Here are some ideas to get you started. These are truly just a jumping off point - we encourage you to find your own ideas and get creative - it will pay dividends in your sales!
Lifestyle imagery pertaining to green living:
- Woman/man/families recycling in everyday situations
- Woman/man in home vegetable garden
- Woman/man using green household products to clean
- Woman using green beauty products
- Woman/man mowing a lawn using a hand lawn mower
- Woman/man installing a CFL bulb
- Woman/man weatherproofing doors/windows
- Hanging laundry
- Biking to work
- Making compost
- Repurposing objects and clothing
- Charity bins
- Rain water for shower or watering the lawn
- Light bulbs, replacing
- Energy saving appliances (energy star)
- Doing laundry, hanging laundry
- Anything showing household water use (normal use, saving water, wasting water)
- Mom or dad on a bike w/ kid (and groceries)
- Compost, trash, recycling
- Farmer's market, cloth bag
- Cloth diapers
- Push lawnmower
- Working at a food co-op
- Cooking at home
- Carrying baby in a cloth sling
- Shopping at the farmer's market
- Using cloth diapers
- Industry recycling + water conservation
Literal/Dramatic:
- Fuel alternatives/hybrid cars as objects, or people driving, in backgrounds/driveways
- Vegetable garden on the roof (in the city)
- Person tanning on the roof next to a solar panel
- Business person on a bike, skateboard
- Solar backpack (charging an ipod!)
- Car w/ windmill
- Solar panels w/city in background
- Installing/caring for a green roof
- Off-the-grid living
- Polluted water
- Waste water
Organic Farming:
- Organic farms/locally grown advertising and shopping
- Farmers planting and harvesting
- Organic food products
- Slow food movement
- Portraiture of Environmentalists, Organic Farmers, organizations and eco activists
Energy Alternatives:
- Hydro power
- Companies that supply alternative energy solutions
- Workers/employees in this industry
- Anything to do with alternative energy sources
- Solar panels
Global Warming:
- Weather impact/severe or inconsistent weather
- Locations where there is the most impact
- Flooding
photo by Eric O'Connell
7. PARTICIPATE
Are you a buyer or photographer with extensive experience relevant to this category? We'd love to hear from you! Please email us with any additions to the Shotlist, Tips, or any other sections of this article.
We look forward to it!
Stumble Upon
Thanks so much for the info and tips. This is a great resource!
My husband Bob Pennington, often researches out locations for alternative forms energy, whether it be good, bad or alternative. Sometimes these places take him really far off the beaten path. He was out photographing a flock of birds in front of a brand new coal plant from a public road when he was confronted by a woman who almost ran him over with her truck. At first she wanted to confiscate all his camera gear and told him they take names of everyone who shoots and that if the images were published he would be in big trouble. She even threatened to call the sheriff. He managed to be cordial and left the scene with his gear intact. He was then followed by someone in a car for 5 miles before they turned off onto a dirt road. The moral of the story... access to some of these places is everything.