Aindreas Scholz: Ethics of Sustainability
In this episode, we talk with Aindreas Scholtz about sustainability, materiality, and the future of photographic practice. Aindreas discusses how his camera-less photographic work, drawing on historical processes such as cyanotype and anthotype*, has shaped his research. He reflects on photography as a material practice, exploring the ethical implications of the resources and environments entangled in photography. Aindreas discusses the value of working collaboratively with communities and scientists, the importance of embracing slow methodologies, and why photographers should be transparent about the environmental impact of their work. He shares how reflecting on his own practice has led him to see photography ethics as an ongoing process of imagining better futures through more thoughtful choices.
*Cyanotype is a camera-less photographic process that creates photograms by placing objects on light-sensitive paper, coated with iron salts and exposing them to ultraviolet light. After washing with water, the process produces distinctive blue and white images. Anthotype is a camera-less photographic process that uses light sensitive pigments extracted from flowers, leaves or fruits. Objects placed on the coated surface create images as the exposed plant pigments gradually fade in sunlight.
What you'll find inside:
On discovering sustainable photographic practice after breaking his camera: 'That was the best thing that ever happened to me… I had plenty of sunlight, I had plenty of water… I thought, I'm not going to use tap water, I'm going to use seawater because I'm surrounded by the sea. I want to allow the environment to come into the process.' (12.26)
'When you work with a community and you've got ten people coming together, the knowledge they produce in that very short amount of space is amazing. You just have to remove yourself, watch, and learn.' (14.56)
'I know that my work has a footprint. I know that my work is not 100% eco-friendly or sustainable… First you address it, you admit it, you problematise it, and then you ask what can be done better.' (25.56)
‘I'm informed by science, because photography came out of science, but it can have very creative applications…it can change people's minds about our behaviour’ (28.18)
What does photography ethics mean to Aindreas?
'To me it means to be more reflective about my choices and behaviours, to reflect on the past and to imagine a future inspired by ethical choices, and to make things, hopefully, better.' (33.35)
Links:
Aindreas Scholz is a German-Irish, London-based photographer and researcher whose practice merges 19th-century cameraless photographic processes with contemporary ecological concerns. His work explores sustainable printing practices, collaboration with natural elements, and the ethical dimensions of photography in the Anthropocene.
Rather than treating climate change as an image problem, Scholz approaches photography as a material system that can be reworked: a practice of testing, measuring, and taking responsibility for chemistry, water, and waste. His ongoing projects ask what it would mean for photographic making to become an active form of care, one that helps reshape the medium’s footprint, not just its narratives.
A FUTURES Photography nominee (2023), his work has been exhibited internationally and acquired by public collections. Alongside his studio practice, he lectures and leads workshops on sustainable analogue and historical processes. He is currently pursuing a PhD at TU Dublin on ecological photographic practices.
You can see his work at https://aindreasscholz.com/pages/about