Lifestyle: Green Living & Eco

 

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.

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

• Susan Wetherby – Discovery Communications (Lead Art Buyer)
• Anonymous Art Buyer from an international advertising agency

PHOTOGRAPHERS

• Eric O’Connell
• Andrea Wyner

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.

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

• 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!

About the author

Allen Murabayashi
Allen is CEO and co-founder of PhotoShelter. He is a regular contributor to the PhotoShelter blog, and he flosses daily.

2 Comments

RobL 6-19-2008

Thanks so much for the info and tips. This is a great resource!

Jen Pennington 7-20-2008

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.

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