The Fine Art Of Conservation
Like most National Geographic photojournalists, Ami Vitale uses her camera to produce powerful images of wildlife and the environments they inhabit. But Vitale, who is also a World Press Photo award-winner and Nikon Ambassador, doesn’t stop there. In many cases, she publishes her photography in an attempt to help save the planet.
For instance, in 2009, after producing a story on the transport and release of one the world’s last northern white rhinos, Vitale shifted her focus from covering spot news in conflict zones to developing a broader range of stories focused on the environment and endangered wildlife. Such stories included reports on poaching in Africa and photo essays on raising pandas in China.
More recently, Vitale documented the efforts of Chinese scientists and conservationists breeding pandas and releasing them into the wild in order to augment existing populations while protecting their natural habitat. It’s a body of work that resulted in a bestselling book, Panda Love: The Secret Lives of Pandas, published by Hardie Grant, which also happens to be Vitale’s first published volume of her photography.
Stories like these led Lavazza, the renowned Italian manufacturer of coffee products, to commission Vitale for its 2019 annual calendar, “Good to Earth.” It’s a project that provided Vitale
