Simple sustainable food photography practices
Written by Jenny Kay
As a food photographer, I get through a lot of food. Like, a lot a lot!
In an average month, I’ll fly through a few bags of sugar, numerous jars of peanut butter and several dozen packets of biscuits… enough to make any dietician wince. (Though I should clarify I’m not eating all of this. I’m just shooting it!)
Even if I wanted to, it’s not physically possible to eat all the various recipes and products I shoot during the course of a day, so the risk of me becoming a conveyor belt of food waste is incredibly high.
And after a few hours, the packaging really does pile up! That’s why at Brilliant we always aim to make our studio as sustainable as possible for our clients.
We want to make sure that when our subject leaves the studio, it ends up in people’s mouths instead of just the bin. And that all that packaging finds its way into recycling!
To help out other photographers in the same pickle, here are four simple ways in which I try to tackle the problem, which hopefully you and your photography studio might find useful!
1. Don’t over buy!
It sounds obvious. But if we didn’t all overbuy, then food waste wouldn’t be an issue, would it!?
Waste is a huge problem within food photography and we try to be as frugal as possible when it comes to the shopping list. Why buy a whole bag of carrots if a recipe shoot only calls for one?
Planning shoots well ahead of time and knowing what ingredients we need for each shot is really important. And if leftover food is unavoidable, then luckily we have a whole office full of hungry people that will happily take it home!
2. Everything’s Edible
Everybody thinks the food in food photography is fake, but here at Brilliant all our food is 100% real and delicious.
Making fully edible food means once you’ve finished with the shots then it’s free to a good home, just make sure you’ve not touched it too much!
Having clients like We Love Baking, Tate & Lyle and Lyle’s Golden Syrup means we make A LOT of delicious bakes that the team begrudgingly eat so nothing goes in the bin.
3. Recycle
Food, especially fruit and veg, comes in a crazy amount of plastic and it’s hard to know what to do with it or how to reduce it.
That’s why we source the majority of our ingredients from supermarkets or the market with loose fruit and veg, meaning we can use bags of our own.
Occasionally we’ll need to order shopping to the studio or run to the closest shop! In those instances, our studio team likes to ensure all plastic packaging makes its way into the right bin – even if it means taking it home with us!
Make sure to check your local council bin details as you may be able to recycle more than you think, or check what supermarkets will take back that plastic packaging.
4. Second Hand
There is a world of wonders in your local charity shop and it’s right around the corner, waiting for you to explore! You really never know what you’ll find amongst the bric-a-brac…
We have picked up some lovely second-hand pieces from various different places and for some clients, a rustic look is even preferable! Not only do you save some poor little jug from sitting on a shelf for an eternity, but it’s also way cheaper!
Here at Brilliant, we also always ask the team if there is anything they could bring in. It could be something super specific that we’ll never use again, like hiking boots. Or an expensive board game like Scrabble!
Whatever you need, it’s always best not to buy anything new to start with – hence why we’re always adopting bowls, plates and glasses from the rest of the team!
The future of sustainable food photography
In this day and age, there are so many ways to be sustainable and it can be very overwhelming at times. It can feel like you aren’t doing enough, but doing the bits you can is always better than doing nothing!
You can’t become a sustainable genius overnight but looking forward you can put things in place to help.
Here are two ways that Brilliant is hoping to be more sustainable in the future…
Virtual Production
As a studio, we are training to use virtual production, using virtual screens to provide environments and backdrops for photography and video. Not having to buy a collection of paper or vinyl backdrops that we may only need for a couple of shots is a huge win for sustainability. It also means it’s easier to create environments like living rooms or a garden without going on location, meaning we’re also reducing our carbon emissions!
Client Live Stream
Setting up a client live stream straight into the studio means clients can keep up to date with their shoots without having to travel far and wide. This saves clients from travel costs and the environmental cost of driving or using public transport.
The industry has a long way to go but we can all do our part to make it a little greener.
