Fellow the last post on Is digital greener than traditional film photography?, there is a very nice comment on http://changents.com/ from Ecopix. He show in a really nice example how digital photography is greener than the traditional film.

Here is his comment:

“Hi, Greetings from Australia and thanks for your summary.

I Googled to find out just this topic and found very little info besides yours on which to base my decision (which is unlike Google!). Strange that photographers, often the conscience of humanity, don’t turn their scrutiny to their own trade more. I’m no expert and my approach is guesswork. It goes this way (using myself as an example): Like many photographers I have a beloved film camera kit which I would like to still use, but ask myself, “can I justify the environmental footprint in these dire days?” My film kit is Hasselblad so a digital equivalent is about 20mp, say a Canon 5D Mark 2 body, with my lenses adapted, as the most economical digital alternative. I could use a Phase P25 but that’s more expensive, or a higher megapixel back but that’s a step up, so we’ll keep it level. On the digital side of the environmental ledger: A complex, precision-made new camera and all the materials, chemicals, energy, water and transport required to make, package and deliver it from Japan to Australia. I have no feel for the quantities involved, but more than some tens of litres or even gallons of toxic waste water is hard to imagine for an instrument one holds in the hand. Plus the energy and materials I need to earn the $4000 Australian dollars to pay for it – a month’s photography, in my case. If it’s service life is, say, 120 000 exposures, I will need about 4 terabytes of disk storage, doubled for backup, and all the materials, chemicals, energy, water and transport required to make, package and deliver those 8 disks from Malaysia to Australia. My last large digital camera made 70 000 exposures in 2 1/2 years before I decided it was too worn to rely on (it was a Kodak so service and spares disappeared during its life), so 120 000 is not an unreasonable number of exposures for a working photographer to make on a camera with ongoing support. Plus the energy to run the camera, disk motors and necessary computer to make, edit, organise and store those 120 000 pictures. Not an insignificant amount of power (and ongoing to view the images), but I have a solar power system, so it is actually the materials, chemicals, energy, water and transport required to make, package and deliver those panels and batteries. I’ve seen a figure of 8 years needed for a solar panel to generate enough power to justify it’s own existence. I’m sure that’s a wobbly guestimate. Solar batteries last about 8 years before their lead gets recycled. The camera will probably last 3 to 4 years. This is a wooly picture of environmental footprint, but it establishes an order of magnitude. On the film side of the ledger: Assuming my Hasselblad lasts, I don’t need new equipment, only perhaps two services and the transport and spare parts needed during that 120 000 exposure term. But I need the materials, chemicals, energy, water and transport required to make, package, deliver and refrigerate ten thousand rolls of film, then transport that film to the lab, process and wash the film, dry it, package it and return it to me. If a propack of film weighs 250 grams, 10 000 rolls would weigh about 500kg (half a ton), not an insignificant air bill. Given that I work in remote places, that 500kg may have to travel 3 000km or 2 000 miles (sorry about the metric, Uncle Sam). Plus the energy and materials I (or my customers) need to earn the $90 000 Australian dollars to pay for the film and the $110 000 needed to pay for its processing and postage – 50 months of photography (!) If each roll is washed for the recommended time at the recommended flow rate, that film would contaminate and flush into our waterways at least 60 000 litres (14 000 gallons) of precious treated freshwater alone, along with 80 litres of toxic bleach at the recommended replenishment rate. E-6 uses five such chemicals. And then I need to scan and store the digital tiff files anyway (which are three times larger than the more efficient raw digital captures), because, lets get real, no stock agent or customer is going to want those film originals. I can argue that I would be more careful with film and therefore would need less to produce the same number of usable images, but doubts niggle. I can take one test image on the digital camera and get the picture right, whereas I may feel obliged to bracket with film, multiplied by changes in composition, or polaroid, another dirty business. Past experience shows that film photography is very wasteful. Even if the number of film images is halved, the order of magnitude difference in footprint between digital and film appears to remain. I love my film camera, I love it’s image quality and the look of a film image, I love the discipline of film photography, and I much prefer working with transparencies on a light table than starring comatose into a computer screen all day, but I get the feeling that, environmentally if in no other way, it all lives in a time now past.

Wayne Lawler
http://ecopix.net

Updated: Apologies, I overestimated the weight of a propak of 120 film by 100 grams (one of many inaccuracies, no doubt), so the total weight is more like 300kg. I don’t think it makes much difference to the conclusion. Given the three trips film needs, and assuming a Japanese origin, that’s about 3 900 kilometre-tonnes of transport, compared to the one digital camera’s flight from Japan of 132 kilometre-tonnes. It’s unlikely any single photographer outside of Hollywood would really use 10 000 rolls of film these days, but there’s a lot of us nitrate junkies in total. Guess my trusty ‘Blad travels to the mantelpiece.”
Very interesting and helpful. Thank you Wayne for this nice explanation.

Frederic

by Andrea Bakacs

Agh, the never ending debate. Is digital photography greener than traditional film photography?

There is a wide assumption that digital photography is much more environmentally friendly than traditional film photography. Extensive studies have not been done comparing the two, since a lot of the “stuff” required in the process of digital photography isn’t inherently visible, therefore out of sight and out of mind for many people. However, when looking at the pros and cons of each, you can easily come to your own conclusion, or most likely, deem the above statement a myth and not end up with any conclusion at all.

Lets go through the basic steps of film vs. digital, starting with the gear, film and processing, printing, and storage. All categories that apply to both digital and film media. I will leave out aesthetics qualities and try to solely focus on environmental footprint.

Gear:
Traditional film cameras are still around and manufactured today. While not as many are made any more due to the popularity and economic pressure from the digital revolution, they remain the workhorses of the photo industry. They require either no batteries to run, or just a small watch size battery which operates the light meter for years and years without the need for replacement.

Digital cameras on the other hand are the changing face of the industry. You are lucky to buy a brand new released model only to have yet another forthcoming release announced a few months later. Consumers want the latest and greatest and newest to keep up not only with technology, but also with style, size, and not to mention the latest software necessary to just view these images. Traditional cameras did not have a lot of energy used in producing them as they are fairly simple mechanical technologies…

READ The rest of the Article on Andrea Bakacs website: Changents.com

Thanks
Frederic

I was born in Bella Coola, BC and lived there for the first several years of my life. There was naturalness to the way we lived there – we ate from our garden, shared resources, and respected our beautiful northern landscape. That time there instilled in me a longing for simple living, even though I was unaware of it for many years.

Since my pregnancy I have become increasingly “green aware”. While I was talking to some friends of mine about this issue a few weeks ago we realized that we all compare ourselves to other friends and either pride ourselves or beat ourselves up for how we feel we stand in comparison to how green they are living their lives. The conclusion of the conversation was that we all feel we are incorporating new practices all the time, and moving towards an even more eco-friendly lifestyle, and we figured that was the important thing. Everyone has different lifestyles and some things just aren’t feasible for others. So, we decided to encourage each other to live as green as we can, and leave the subconscious scoring out of it.

If you’ve spent much time of my site you’ll see that I talk about conscious and greener living. So I know what you’re thinking… First of all, what does that mean? Second, how the heck does photography relate?

Conscious living means living life with more awareness. Do we think about the things we eat? Do we balance our lives between work, rest, and the things and people who are important to us? Greener living is very similar to conscious living, but it’s directly related to the environment. Are we aware of how much energy we waste? Are we giving back somehow to replenish what we’ve used?

I have recently found the Green Photographers Network and I love it! They have some fantastic ideas, many of which I had already implemented, and many more I will continue to add. I am currently seeking accreditation to become a certified Green Photographer through their network. To give you an idea, here are some of the things they say you must do to be a green photographer:

· Use Digital Cameras instead of Film, no more chemicals used (check)

· Use Rechargeable Batteries for our equipments (yep)

· Use electronic delivery of images through e-mail, FTP and our website (in progress)

· Display and Share our photos using an online Internet Photo Gallery (check)

· Encourage clients to only print the photos they want to display (yes!)

· Use local business only (green will be the best) to run your studio (check)

· Use LCD Flat Panels to work or to display our work (yup)

· Reduce paper waste by reading online (I actually prefer it, so this isn’t hard for me)

· Power-down various components when not in use (check)

· Reduce, Reuse and recycle everything you can (I guess this is a continual thing, but yes, I do this consistently)

· Use less water by printing digitally (yeah)

· Recycle your gear – give it to someone who needs it. Even selling it is better than trashing it. (check)

· Edit images carefully and don’t print unless you need to. (I have a fancy new calibrator so it makes my colours exactly accurate. No more reprints!)

· Think about a digital portfolio on your laptop or even a digital photo frame (yep, online)

· When you need to print, use matte papers from sustainable sources. (Most lustre and gloss papers contain petroleum products.) (I encourage my clients to print matte anyway. Just looks better!)

· Recycle old negatives, silver prints and film and never “toss.” (done)

· Upgrade to the latest computer technology when you need to, not when it’s “fashionable.” Using a generation or two of old software can minimize the need for hardware upgrades. If you do upgrade, donate your old computers. (My last computer I bought used over seven years ago. Served me well)

· Use email marketing instead of snail mail. 40% of landfill is made up of paper. (facebook, how I love you)

· You have a camera. Document waste in your community and bring it to the attention of local authorities, utilities and, in a friendly way, to neighbours. (In progress)

So this original post was about three times as long as this, but I’ll cut it here for now. I just felt I owed an explanation about the green thing, and how a photographer can have a green business. If you have any questions for me, or want more info adopting green practices either personally or for your business, please free to contact me. You know where to reach me!

Emily

Liberty Tree Photography

www.libertytreephotography.com  ||  info@libertytreephotography.com

Now, you can add your name into our Green Directory.

Share your information with everyone on the Green Photographers Network. It will be nice if you could put some information why you are a green photographer and how you do it on dealy basics.

Click here to add your name or click here to see the directory.

Thanks,
Frederic

Ansel Adams

Article written By Kimberly Vetrano

I remember not too long ago I was typing away at my computer listening to the TV which was on in the background. I don’t remember what show was on but they were interviewing a man by the name of Steven Kazlowski. Steven is a photographer who spent over eight years photographing the Polar Bears in the Arctic and the effects that the Global Warming is taking on these beautiful creatures. His book is called “The Last Polar Bear“.

As I sat typing away I found myself drawn to the plight of the Polar Bear and how the effect of Global Warming is destroying their environment and how they could quickly become extinct. The thought of that made me stop what I was doing and sit for a moment and think about what he said. I couldn’t imagine a world without Polar Bears. I couldn’t imagine a world without a North Pole and the Arctic. It made me re-evaluate the dire consequences of our every day actions. It made me think about the whole “Going Green” movement.

Every where you look these days you will see “Green” products and “Green” programming. There are “Green” cookbooks, “Green” clothing and even “Green” pet products. I have even seen “Green” toys for kids. But what does it mean to be “Green”?

Going “Green” to most people means being more environmentally responsible and making better, healthier choices for yourself, your family and our environment.

Some might worry that they have to make drastic changes in their lifestyles in order to be “Green”. Others might see this as just a fad and a passing trend. The terminology might be a passing fad, but the whole concept of being more socially responsible and making better choices is here to stay.

There are many little things you can do to make an impact on our environment. Maybe not individually, but as a whole society those little things add up to big changes.

Here are a few things you can do today that will make a difference in our environment when combined by the efforts of millions of others just like you.

- Unplug unused electronics and appliances when not in use. Did you know that even when not in use these items still continue to draw electricity? Some of the worst offenders are automatic coffee pots, microwaves, TV’s and clock radios.

- These days when the cost of gasoline has reached an all time high it makes better sense, both for our environment and your wallet, to walk or car pool whenever possible. I’ll be the first to say the idea of walking a mile or two down the road to get stamps doesn’t thrill me much, but even just walking to the bus stop instead of driving makes a difference. Another great tip is not to let you car idle. If you are stopped for more then a minute or two turn your car off. Idling just wastes gas and pollutes our environment.

- Use re-usable water bottles. I know it’s very easy to grab a bottle of nice cold water in any deli or convenient store, but each one of those bottles ends up in our landfills. Each year tons of water bottles end up in our landfills. You also need to consider all the power and pollutants that are utilized to create the water bottles and the fuel it takes to deliver them to all the stores. A much healthier and less expensive choice would be water from your own kitchen faucet. If you happen to have water that is not very tasty you can always get one of those affordable water filtration systems like Brita and Pur. You can purchase inexpensive reusable water bottles just about anywhere these days.

- Reduce waste whenever possible. Instead of taking a plastic spoon to eat your lunch with use a regular spoon from home and wash it when you are done. Use sandwich boxes instead of bags. You can even purchase reusable sandwich wraps. Make your own snacks, for example pudding, and put it in a reusable container instead of purchasing pudding cups from the store. It’s cheaper and it saves our environment too.

- Buy locally grown and produced products. Support your local farmers and farmer’s markets. When you buy local you save our environment from all the fuel that is used up to transport foods from one area to the next. Granted you can not buy every product locally but you can find a vast majority of fruits and vegetables from local farms. They cost less then traditional grocery stores too. It’s also important to support local commerce.

- Join a local Yahoo Group. Instead of tossing out that unwanted bike or those golf clubs you no longer use list them on Freeshare/Freecycle and pass them along to someone else who can use them. It helps to keep more items out of our landfills. You might also get something you have been looking for too for free.

- Eat less meat. Even eating one meatless meal a week can make a huge impact on our environment (not to mention it’s a healthier option for you). Did you know that 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock? That is more then what is emitted from the various forms of transportation. Another benefit to our environment is the less meat we require the less trees are destroyed. Each year thousands of acres of land in the Amazon are deforested to make room for livestock. Millions of trees are destroyed each year and as you know trees help to keep our air clean.

These are just a few ideas to get you started on the road to being more socially conscious and environmentally aware of what you can do to help save our environment. As an added bonus you’ll even save some money too.

“Going Green” is something everyone can do. All it takes is committing to doing one environmentally friendly act and continuing to do that on a daily basis.

We only have one Earth. We must all make the commitment to do our part to take care of our Earth before it’s too late. Even the smallest act can have a great impact. Make the effort to do one “Green” thing today.

Kimberly Vetrano is a mother, wife, home business owner, freelance writer & photographer and mini Zoo Keeper. She writes for her blog, She Scribes http://www.SheScribes.com and can also be found at her business Everyday-Occasions http://www.Everyday-Occasions.com.

After I read this article on New Media Photographer published by Rosh Sillars, I decided also to offer you an electronic version of all articles published on Green Photographers Network. I used OpenOffice 3.0 (an free and open productivity suite) to create this PDF file.

I will update this E-book every two weeks will all new articles. This way, you can read it off line and share it with your friends, collegues, families… etc.

You can download the Free E-book here (Last update May, 22nd 2009).

Enjoy!

Frederic

Like I already wrote few weeks ago in precedent article (10 rules to be a green photographer), I decide to make a quicker and smaller list to have a good start.

Here are the 5 steps to achieve to be green photographer quickly:

1. Use a digital camera
2. Use rechargeable batteries and recycle (see Theresa comment below)
3. Use electronic delivery of images through e-mail, FTP and our website
4. Send out your portfolio electronically only and finally,
5. Use local business only to run your photographic business

These are the simple steps you can take quickly and I pretty sure, most of you, are already doing that.
Frederic

” The prints we make for our ‘daily use’ not only use paper, but also ink. According to SPRANQ creative communications (Utrecht, The Netherlands) your ink cartridges (or ink toner) could last longer.  SPRANQ has therefore developed a new font: the Ecofont. “After Dutch holey cheese, there now is a Dutch font with holes as well.” Appealing ideas are often simple: how much of a letter can be removed while maintaining readability? After extensive testing with all kinds of shapes, the best results were achieved using small circles. After lots of late hours (and coffee) this resulted in a font that uses up to 20% less ink. Free to download, free to use.”

The ideas behind this ecofont creation based on Verdano font are:

“• End-users: print only when necessary, use a modern, efficient printer and use unbleached paper.
• Graphic designers: use modern color separation techniques to avoid unnecessary wastage in ink. In paper choice, take the environment into account.
• (Offset) printers: avoid modern laser techniques that make ink indivisible from the paper. Keep an eye on innovations, such as plant-based ink.
• Printer manufacturers: invest in environment-conscious innovation.”

You can download the font directly from the website or by clicking here.

I try it on my HP LaserJet 1018 printer and honestly the result is amazing. And when you know the price of a laser ink cartridge, it’s nice to know that you can save up to 20% of ink during the life of your cartridge. Go green and give a try to the ecofont.

Our free ebook used this font. Check it out.

Frederic

“If I knew how to take a good photograph, I’d do it every time.”

Frederic
(Source: www.photoquotes.com)