Erin Wheat Co.
Business Member Since: 2019
Located: Jackson Hole, WY
Industry: Alternative Wedding Photography
Websites:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erinwheat/
Business Member Bio:
Born and raised in the National Park family, conservation has been a foundation of my life and who I am since I was born and remains to this day. Both of my parents are biologists for the NPS, and I spent my childhood doing field studies with them. I watched their pain during environmental failures and their joy in successes. I learned from the values they instilled in me in on how to best protect and respect our planet, and our place in the natural world.
When I became a photographer, I knew I wanted to continue their legacy in some form. It wasn’t outside the box to see a photographer doing conservation work with outdoor brands and efforts, but weddings/elopement culture wasn’t something usually united with conservation.
In 2020, Erin joined the 2% for Conservation Board of Directors!
I didn’t and still don’t see why those two can’t be united, and I feel that the community I work with cares about conservation and our planet and I want the imagery of their love to reflect their values and passions too. I decided I wanted to unite portraits of lovers in wild places, but I also wanted their investment in my art to give back too, which is why in the first year of my business I began donating 1% back to conservation.
I shoot a lot of backcountry weddings and elopements, and a lot in National Parks and public lands and it’s a small way we can work to protect these places so that we always have them and can continue to explore and capture them. Without these places, none of what we do matters, so I don’t see any other way than for conservation to be a value and part of daily life.
I hope to inspire other creatives to unite their values in conservation with their work, and to encourage the individuals we work with to be a part and to realize that all they do and invest in can be united to these efforts.
Listen to Erin Wheat on the The Average Conservationist Podcast:
Conservation Groups Supported:
1% for the Planet
International League of Conservation Photographers
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance
Acadia National Park
Alaska Conservation Foundation
No Man's Land Film Festival