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This past week I had the honor to talk with an incredibly talented and inspirational woman, Ami Vitale. If you don’t already know, Ami Vitale is not only a National Geographic photographer and Nikon Ambassador, but she has traveled to over 100 countries capturing breathtaking photos of nature! Her outlook on the world, perspective on situations, and relationships with nature is motivating.
Be sure to check out the links near the end of this Q&A to learn more about her work and latest endeavors!
a: As a child, I was painfully shy, gawky, and introverted. I was afraid of people and that made it difficult to engage with the world around me. Until I picked up a camera and then everything changed. It allowed me to shift my attention away from myself and focus on others. Looking through the viewfinder, I found a world full of wonder. Not only did photography enable me to see the world with fresh eyes, it allowed me to share and amplify other people’s stories, and later, stories about wildlife and nature.
a: I began my career covering conflicts. I was twenty-six and found myself in places like Kosovo, Angola, Gaza, Afghanistan, and later Kashmir. My reason for going, I told myself, was to document the brutality of conflict. I thought the most powerful stories were those driven by violence and destruction. While the importance of shining a light on human conflict shouldn’t be minimized, focusing only on this turned my world into a horror show.
What slowly emerged from covering conflicts that divide us is that journalists also have an obligation to illuminate the things that unite us as human beings. If we choose to look for what divides us, we will find it. If we choose to look for what brings us together, we will find that too.
Those years in war zones led me to another epiphany. The stories about people and the human condition are always connected to nature. If you dig deep enough behind virtually every human conflict, there has been an erosion of the fundamental bond between the humans involved and the health of the natural world around them.
Our fates are linked. Losing one part of nature, is a loss for all of us. Photography has the unique ability to transcend all languages and help us understand our deep connections to one another and to all of life on this planet. It is the ultimate empathy tool for creating awareness and understanding across cultures; a tool for making sense of our commonalities in the world we share.
a: I have had the incredible privilege of working closely with a host of charismatic wild species like pandas and elephants, rhinos and giraffes. They all have impacted me and not one more than any other. I can deeply feel the connections between all of life. I am as fascinated by a dung beetle as I am any other living creature and even flora. I want everyone to experience and benefit from the diversity of habitat and life we have today in all of its forms – from glaciers to deserts, elephants to the tiniest of ants that inhabit the earth. My message is to slow down and really listen and observe the magic of the natural world.
a: Many! but here is one:
Photographing pandas was one of the most challenging stories I’ve worked on. How could I possibly create something that might surprise our readers? It is not that anyone hasn’t seen a picture of a panda. The panda may be the most recognized and the most photographed animal alive on the planet. After going to China multiple times, getting to know the people, getting to understand the pandas and learning to really think like a panda, this story blew my mind.
To get as much as I could of the story of their lives, I had to learn to blend in. So, to get close enough to take these photos, I had to be suited up in a panda costume that was scented with panda urine, just like the staff would wear. I was allowed just a couple of times to get close to the cubs but after about 6 months old they have teeth and claws and can hurt you. They are bears after all.
Right now, there are fewer than 2,000 Giant Pandas in the wild. Their breeding secrets have long resisted the efforts of zoos, and the mountainous bamboo forests they call home have been decimated by development and agriculture. But in a region where bad environmental news is common, the future of the Giant Panda might prove to be the exception. Over thirty years, researchers from the reserve have been working on breeding and releasing pandas, augmenting existing populations and protecting their habitat. And they’re finally having success. They are taking captive born pandas and releasing them back into the wild. They are investing billions into creating more habitat and connecting corridors. This is possibly the biggest reforestation program happening on the planet right now. It’s one of the few countries where forest coverage is growing.
The pandas sent to the wild will have no lines of school children waiting to meet them, nor a fan page on Facebook. And as these bears trundle off into the wild, they take with them hope for their entire species. The slow and steady incline in the population of Giant Pandas is a testament to the perseverance and efforts of Chinese scientists and conservationists. China may be on its way to successfully saving its most famous ambassador and in the process put the wild back into an icon.
a: Each shoot is so different but when I’m working with wildlife, I have to spend a lot of time learning about their behavior first and having them acclimate to my presence.
a: There is a talk called “My Defining Moment” where I discuss my most important images.
a: I’m working on a few fundraising campaigns for the communities in Kenya and the wildlife that is being desperately impacted by this pandemic. Check out the Omaze Safari Campaign. A lucky couple will win a safari to Kenya and a private workshop with me, once it’s safe to travel.
a: I can recall the exact moment when I truly began to understand how profound our choices are and the impacts we have to one another and to all of life on this planet. It happened on a cold, snowy day in December 2009 in the village of Dvur Kralove in the Czech Republic. It was on this day that I met a rhino named Sudan for the first time. Quite unexpectedly, this animal changed the way I see the world forever. What surprised me was how connected I felt to the gentle, hulking creature sitting in front of me. When I got close to him, I had the strange feeling that I had just met a unicorn. He was mythical and otherworldly, larger than life. I recognized I was in the presence of a sentient, ancient creature. His species has been roaming the planet for millions of years and up until the last hundred years, there were possibly hundreds of thousands of them inhabiting the planet.
But on that day in 2009, there were only eight of these rhinos alive and they were all in zoos. I was there because there was a plan to airlift four of these last eight Northern White Rhinos from the zoo in the Czech Republic to Kenya. At first, I thought it was a story straight out of Disney cartoon but I quickly realized that this was a desperate, last-ditch effort to save an entire species. When I saw these creatures, it seemed so incomprehensibly unfair that we had reduced them to this remnant of what they had been. For hundreds of years, rhino horn has been used by people around the world to treat illnesses, such as fever and stroke. Imbued by tradition with miraculous healing powers, rhino horn is actually just composed of keratin – the same material our fingernails and hair are made of. Nevertheless, today rhinos continue to be killed for their horns. We are witnessing extinction right now, on our watch. Poaching is not slowing down, and it’s entirely possible, even likely, that if the current trajectory of killing continues, elephants. rhinos, along with a host of lesser-known plains animals will be functionally extinct in our lifetime.
Much needed attention has been focused on the plight of wildlife but very little has been said about the indigenous communities on the frontlines of the poaching wars. They hold the key to saving Africa’s great animals. The best protectors of these animals are the people who live alongside them. Human activity has placed 1 million plant and animal species in immediate danger of extinction, causing what scientists have identified as the sixth major extinction event on this planet. This extinction event is different— not only is it driven by humans but it is happening at an incredibly fast and accelerating rate. Removal of a keystone species has a huge effect in the ecosystem and impacts all of us. These giants are part of a complex world created over millions of years, and their survival is intertwined with our own survival. Without rhinos and elephants, and other wildlife, we all will suffer in ways we do not yet fully comprehend.
a: Nature has sent us all a strong message and I’m thinking about that and embracing the stillness. This pandemic is a reminder of just how small and deeply interconnected our world is. It is a moment to reimagine our relationship to nature and to each other. My big takeaway is this: We all need to do all we can to care for the plants and critters that inhabit the earth. They are fellow travelers, and our only friends, in this cold dark universe. Our future happiness depends on them. This time is allowing us to find ways to help the wildlife that exists all around us, even in your backyard. You do not have to travel 10,000 miles away to find wondrous creatures. They are everywhere, even in the most unlikely places. Do everything you can to help nature. Plant a garden if you can and take the time to really watch it grow. Or plan a campaign for a community that protects wildlife and is being impacted by COVID.
And if you don’t have time, get engaged by making a small donation. Check out the Omaze campaign. A lucky couple will win a safari to Kenya and a private workshop with me, once it’s safe to travel.
Click here to visit her website, learn more about Ami and her work, and even get a print!
All imagery by Ami Vitale, click here to visit her site and click here to follow her on Instagram!
You are the best! Thank you so much for sharing! ❤️