Wildspaces - focused on Protesting and Restoring the World's Wilderness

Posted by David Butler on June 3rd, 2021

In 2018, whilst on a climbing trip to the Tetons in Wyoming, our founder Matt met a group of independent photographers who had recently returned from a self-funded tour of Alaska and were speaking to local galleries/restaurants/coffee shops to get their recent work exhibited in the hope of driving print sales.

Through speaking with them, Matt established that they'd need to sell upwards of 50 prints just to break even from their trip and it became apparent how challenging making a living was for many independent photographers, especially without regular commercial work. Needless to say, the coronavirus pandemic created further challenges with restrictions to travel and far fewer commercial opportunities.

In December 2020, Wild Spaces was launched with a simple mission: to support talented independent photographers and harness the power of their work to drive appreciation for the remaining wilderness on our planet.

Wild Spaces are committed to supporting outdoor/adventure photographers dedicated to documenting and capturing the world’s wilderness by giving them a specialist platform to share their work, the the narrative around it and the opportunity to sell gallery quality archival prints.

Our Founder

Growing up in the heart of the Malvern Hills surrounded by wilderness, Matt has a deep-rooted love of the outdoors and the endless pursuits that are possible in these spaces; trail running, climbing, fresh water swimming, snowboarding and everything in-between.

Matt’s main motivation was to marry his love and passion for the outdoors with his career and in doing so build a mechanism for supporting talented independent photographers as well as projects that focus on protecting and restoring our world’s wild spaces.

Our Commitment

We proudly support the World Land Trust (WLT) and have committed 10% of our revenue to supporting projects focused on protecting and restoring the world's wilderness. We understand the importance of the  World Land Trust’s mission in protecting the world’s most biologically significant and threatened habitats acre by acre in order for future generations to be able to thrive in a happy and healthy world.

Responsibility

We pride ourselves in offering the highest quality fine art prints on behalf of our photographers. We work in partnership with theprintspace, the UK’s leading fine art printer and their professional art prints are made using the very best high definition equipment and finest materials, all overseen by master printers.

Theprintspace is the UK’s only Fine Art & Photo printing service that is completely carbon neutral. This means they offset all carbon emissions that their business is responsible for. However, we're not just satisfied being neutral and together with the theprintspace, we will continue to seek new ways of working that will lead us to a net positive environmental impact.

Making a Difference

Fundamental to our values as a business is creating and supporting positive change and we have committed 10% of our revenue to projects run by the World Land Trust.

“The money that is given to the World Land Trust, in my estimation, has more effect on the wild world than almost anything I can think of”. Sir David Attenborough, a WLT patron.

We happen to agree with him and we’re very proud to support the work of this incredible organisation.

Wilderness in the Workplace

It has been over 12 months since the world’s population was first locked down in response to the emergence of the Covid virus. As we see the vaccine roll out to countries across the globe, we are able to start to envisage what our post-Covid world might look like.

There is no doubt that a return to what was previously considered ‘normality’ is now impossible and in many ways, this may be for the best. However, there will be elements that are gradually reinstated as restrictions are lifted. For a lot of people, working from home will continue as the modus operandi whilst for others a steady transition back to the office is inevitable. In this article, we’re making the case for elements of wilderness (or nature) in the workplace; both as a means of supporting general wellness at work and encouraging a positive mindset.

As a collective of photography exhibiting places of wilderness from the high mountains to ancient forests and the frozen planet, we believe that photography can play its part in contributing towards working environments that facilitate productivity and a positive mindset. Beautiful images from wild places can inspire positive thinking and creativity in the very same way that comes from direct exposure to nature.

Explore our collection of Fine art photography prints from the world's wild spaces