» Ami Vitale

Help Vital Impacts Meet the Match

Posted on May 12, 2025May 12, 2025 by Ami Vitale

I had the pleasure of speaking with the incredibly talented and thoughtful Mark Edward Harris from Make It Better Foundation about the power of a single image to impact our understanding of the world. At this critical moment for humanity, we cannot afford to feel overwhelmed or hope that someone else will address our challenges. Stories can be transformative and galvanize the meaningful actions necessary for enduring change.

What started as a vision to unite artists and storytellers in support of grassroots conservation and impactful environmental visual storytelling has grown into a global movement. Vital Impacts, recognizes the crucial role of storytelling in conservation. Our ethos is simple yet profound: to unite artists and storytellers in a shared mission of safeguarding our planet. Through three core programs, we build connections between indigenous peoples, communities, and local organizations, facilitating the sharing of compelling narratives on climate change resilience and the preservation of wildlife and critical habitats.

Right now, you can support this vital work. Make It Better Foundation has generously offered to match all donations to Vital Impacts, up to $5,000, effectively doubling our impact in order to protect endangered habitats and empower the storytellers who amplify their essential stories. Through these stories, we ignite passion, spark change, and drive the collective action needed to make a real and lasting impact.

I encourage you to read Mark’s wonderful story and follow along to gain more insight on how a single image can change the world and the significant impact photography can have in supporting conservation efforts. Visit Vital Impacts to donate.

Ami Named Royal Photographic Society Honorary Fellow

Posted on December 17, 2024December 17, 2024 by Eileen Mignoni

I am honored to share that I have been named an honorary fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, alongside such photographic luminaries as James Balog, James Friend, Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, Michelle Sank, Marilyn Nance, Yasmine Crawford, and William Kentridge.

This prestigious recognition is part of an initiative that celebrates the unique power of photography to challenge societal perceptions and bring complex, urgent issues into sharper focus. I grateful for this platform that will provide me more opportunities to further use photography spark change, both individually and through my non-profit Vital Impacts.

My Earth Essence Presets with Luminar Neo

Posted on August 28, 2024August 28, 2024 by Eileen Mignoni

I’m excited to announce my partnership with Luminar Neo. We have launched an exclusive Earth Essence Presets Collection that captures the essence of classic darkroom techniques. These presets are crafted to help you make subtle, yet powerful enhancements to your portrait, landscape, and wildlife photography.

Guided by a strong commitment to ethical standards, my image processing ensures that changes in color, density, contrast, and saturation never alter or obscure the original content of the photograph.

With each purchase of these presets, you’ll enhance your own photography and support Vital Impacts, our non-profit dedicated to empowering the next generation of environmental photographers.

These before-and-after images are an example of the presets in action. They show the orphaned elephants at Reteti Elephant Sanctuary. This incredible organization, run by the Samburu community, rescues, rehabilitates, and reintroduces orphaned elephant calves to the wild. Discover more and get involved by following Reteti and Sarara Foundation.

I’m also sharing some favorite photos from India as well as my long-term work with scientists successfully bringing China’s pandas back from extinction.

2018 World Press Photo Nature Stories Nomination

Posted on February 27, 2018February 27, 2018 by Eileen Mignoni

I’m humbled and honored to be among the nominees for the 2018 World Press Photo awards for my National Geographic story “Warriors Who Once Feared Elephants Now Protect Them.” Thank you to all my friends at Reteti Elephant Sanctuary Community United for Elephants for trusting me to share your powerful story, to my editors Alexa Keefe and Sarah Leen for giving us the platform to share it and now to World Press Photo, for further casting the light on this important story of community and conservation.

I was awarded a World Press Photo, Second Place, Nature, stories, in 2017 for “Pandas Gone Wild.” In 2015, I received a Second Place, Singles, award in the World Press Photo Nature category for Orphaned Rhino, which is also from my body of work on Northern Kenya, like this year’s prize. This work is a long term examination of the change in the relationship between people and animals in the region.

In the photo above, Joseph Lolngojine, a Samburu warrior turned elephant caretaker, watches over Kinya. Moments after this photo was taken, it was decided to bring her to the sanctuary to try to save her life.

Please have a look all of the World Press Photo stories. Some will break your heart, others may make you laugh and hopefully inspire all of us to work harder to find solutions to our planet’s most pressing challenges. This year, World Press Photos will announce the winners at the Awards Show in Amsterdam on April 12, 2018.

Shortlisted for the main prize are five photographers, Patrick Brown, Adam Ferguson, Toby Melville, Ronaldo Schemidt and Ivor Prickett with Prickett nominated for two separate images shot in Mosul. World Press Photo launched a new code of ethics for entrants, which means that images submitted to the prize have been thoroughly checked before the shortlists have been announced.

The Guardian Warriors of Northern Kenya

Posted on May 26, 2017May 26, 2017 by Ami Vitale

Please see my new work in National Geographic Magazine which will be published in the August, 2017 issue of the magazine about an elephant sanctuary in Northern Kenya. What makes it so special is that it is owned and operated by the indigenous Samburu community. It was a privilege to be allowed into this sacred place. In a world where we often focus only on the things that divide us, it’s important also to talk about the solutions and a way forward. The indigenous people living side by side to the wildlife hold the keys to saving what is left. Please considering visiting Kenya or even contributing to the sanctuary. Link is at end of this story.

Film for Ripple Effect Images

Posted on October 18, 2013July 26, 2014 by Ami Vitale

MediaStorm created a beautiful film about my work with Ripple Effect Images. Our aim is to tell the stories that empower women around the world. Watch it HERE.

For photographer Ami Vitale, the pivotal moment occurred in Guinea-Bissau.

It was the start of her career and she was visiting her sister in the Peace Corp. Vitale expected Africa to be filled with war, famine, plague or the other extreme, exotic safaris.

Living in West Africa for six months showed her not only “how the majority of people on the planet live their day-to-day life,” but that people were not as hopeless as the newspapers portrayed. There was “a great deal of joy there.”

It is a revelation that has guided Vitale through 80 countries and a 13-year career.

Her original desire to take “beautiful pictures” was transformed into a desire to do justice to people and their stories. As a photographer Vitale’s focus has centered on issues surrounding women, poverty and health. The common denominator to all of her stories, she realized, is nature, specifically climate change. And it’s women who bare the brunt of those changes.

But when a woman is offered the tools to improve her situation, she runs with the opportunity. She transforms communities. “It’s a ripple effect,” says Vitale.

It’s the desire to see change that led Ami Vitale to join Ripple Effect Images, a photography organization started by Annie Griffiths that shares imagery with other changemakers.

“We are telling the stories that are so important and get lost in the headlines,” says Vitale. “They are the key to connecting things and allowing people to get engaged and make a difference.”]

National Geographic Workshop in Santa Fe

Posted on July 17, 2011November 17, 2012 by Ami Vitale

I’m looking forward to teaching a multimedia workshop at the Santa Fe workshops from February 17-23, 2013. This week long workshop will be intense and challenging but ultimately very rewarding. I will be exploring how to make the jump from stills to video and will focus on helping the students tell more compelling visual stories using video, audio and still imagery. I will also delve into the process of getting work published from first crafting the initial proposal, finding a storyline, gaining access to subjects and finally editing the work into a cohesive story. Participants will be expected to document a short story and edit it together during the week. I will also talk about the business itself and address issues like writing proposals, understanding copyright, contracts and model releases. This is a workshop about producing real reportage, getting honest feedback, and ultimately how to get work published.

Nikon Professional Services BLOG

Posted on July 17, 2011July 17, 2011 by Ami Vitale

Nikon recently interviewed me for their Nikon Professional Services blog. Here is an excerpt.

Traveling the world and moving from one locale to the next, “clicking” pictures of beautiful places and lovely people. You may ask yourself: “How hard can it be?” Let me tell you from experience: it’s a tough job if you are serious about it, and you have to be serious about it if you want to make a living at it. The truth is, very little “clicking” happens. That is about ten percent of the job. The rest is sheer hard work, planning, researching, editing, negotiating and finding unique ways to tell stories. The trick is to get access to places that no one else can get to, and the secret to this is to know your subject better than anyone else. So my advice to those who dream about this is to find a story close to you – maybe even in your backyard – and make it yours. You don’t need to travel abroad. What you do need to do, however, is tell a story better than anyone else can, using your own unique perspective. If you find your own story and show complete and utter dedication, then you will find a way to carve out a career.