The medium I work in is changing and video is now playing a much bigger role in what we do. Cameras like the one I carry can shoot hd video and it can enhance our abilities as storytellers.  This is already playing a big role in my future but I don’t think I would have [ … ]

I’m back from Madagascar where I spent a month before the holidays,  discovering the island for a TV show called “Maritime Africa”. It will be a five-part documentary series about the islands around Africa.  SWR/ARTE (German and French public TV) and twelve other European stations will air the show that will be about the islands, [ … ]

For anyone in NY, I’ll be speaking November 1, 2010 at 42 West 18th Street, New York at 5:30pm on transitioning into making films as a still photographer. During this evening’s presentation, I’ll show work from India, Bangladesh and Sierra Leone and how photographers can find a niche in today’s changing world of photojournalism.With media [ … ]

In 2010, I made a short film in Sierra Leone on maternal health which is now online on LinkTV. http://www.linktv.org/viewchangefilmcontest/films/view/851 Sierra Leone has among the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. In 2009, it is estimated that one in eight women died during pregnancy. To get some perspective, one in 47,600 women die in [ … ]

Some of the images in this video are graphic and viewers may find them disturbing. Sierra Leone has among the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. In 2009, it is estimated that one in eight women died during pregnancy. To get some perspective, one in 47,600 women die in pregnancy in Ireland. The reasons [ … ]

As a freelancer, you have to stay on the cutting edge and rely on your equipment and good people to help you to succeed.  Cameras, computers, designers, fixers, translators, archiving and distribution tools are some of the things I must be able to trust in order to spend my time concentrating on creating images and [ … ]

I am leaving tomorrow to Freetown, Sierra Leone filled with feelings of anxiety as well as hope. The last time I was there was just a few months after the brutal civil war ended in 2002 that claimed tens of thousands of lives and left more than a third of its population displaced. Yet it [ … ]

They are huge but gentle, lumbering beasts and there are only eight left on the entire planet. Scientists believe the magnificent Northern White rhinos are nearly extinct. There are rumors of some, a few at best, in Southern Sudan but none have been seen for many years now. These eight, two in the San Diego [ … ]

View the story at msnbc.com They are huge but gentle, lumbering beasts and there are only eight left on the entire planet. Scientists believe the magnificent Northern White rhinos are nearly extinct. In a last ditch effort to save this species from extinction, the Lewa Conservancy in Kenya cut a deal to airlift the last [ … ]

Budapest, Hungary has long been renowned for its health spas and thermal springs but recently it has been discovered that many of these springs are connected underground by a huge “thermal lake.” Divers are currently exploring the lake and the city is planning to ask for World Heritage status and may open the lake to [ … ]

The Pacific islands and Micronesia in particular have to deal with the constantly rising sea levels and many fear their small atolls and islands will be washed away in the near future. This image was taken under a wave for the Nature Conservancy for an exhibit titled ” Design for a Living World” on show [ … ]

This is a blog for Nikon Professional Services where I talk about my style and equipment used on assignment. http://nps.nikonimaging.com/members/ami_vitale/ The talented Steve Casimiro, a photographer and editor for National Geographic’s Adventure magazine has created a wonderful blog called the Adventure Life. I was honored that he invited me for this interview. http://www.theadventurelife.org/2009/07/ami-vitales-beautiful-cultures-and-powerful-documentary/ Field Notes [ … ]

This is the a project on The Guardian about Education in Africa. Here is the Link to the project: http://www.guardian.co.uk/educatingafrica

Of course photojournalism is not dying but it has always been a struggle to find support even since I began. Just because magazines and newspapers are going through a difficult period does not reduce the need for great storytelling and I believe now is a perfect time to find opportunity and re-create ourselves for other [ … ]

Just back from Ladakh, India where I had the privilege of working with David Duchemin, Matt Brandon and 8 extremely talented photographers. We explored the bustling back streets of Old Delhi, the Sufi shrine of Nizamuddin and then headed up to the Khardungla Pass to cross the worlds highest motorable road at 18,380 feet. The [ … ]

View Project at PBS online here: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/flash_point/kashmir/ Over the past 60 years, the beauty of Kashmir has been overshadowed by tension and violence. Despite the wishes of Mahatma Gandhi, regarded as the father of Indian independence, the sub-continent was divided along religious lines and two nations were born: the secular but Hindu-dominated India and the [ … ]

Yes, I believe objectivity is an illusion but I also believe that there are a multitude of viewpoints and that no one “Truth” exists. I believe that unless we understand and give voice to these perspectives, reason remains veiled. Ignorance in each other’s stories leads us to assume we know them. It allows us to [ … ]

I have used Nikon bodies and Nikkor lenses since I began and am currently using the D4, D800 and Df. My choice of lenses really depends on the nature of the assignment. If I am shooting wildlife, I need longer lenses like the 400mm with an extender or the 80-400mm. Most of my work is [ … ]

A young teenage Palestinian couple defy a curfew and dance together during their wedding ceremony  in the West Bank city of Nablus. A British non-governmental agency recently reported that Palestinians are currently living in a state of extreme, worsening poverty and fear for their future. Almost three-quarters of Palestinians now live on less than US$2 [ … ]

Indian men practice the three thousand year old sport known as “Kushti”, a form of wrestling, in its traditional form in Kolhapur, India. In this south-eastern Indian city Kushti has a long tradition. Wrestlers continue the rigorous schedule of waking up at 3:30am six times a week and practicing more than 6 hours every day. [ … ]

Adema Balde washes near her family’s rice fields in the village of Dembel Jumpora located in the West African country of Guinea Bissau.

Muslim children sit inside Dariya Khan Ghhumnat Rahat refugee camp set up outside a school in the state of Gujarat in Ahmedabad, India May 10, 2002. The extent of the damage and displacement of more than 120,000 people has threatened the secular ideals of India and left the government under attack for its inadequate relief [ … ]

It depends where I am going and what the climate and nature of the assignment is but one piece of advice I could give is the old adage…”less is more”. The more you bring, the more you must carry. The less you bring, the more lightly you tread and leave behind. It is much better [ … ]

The W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography is presented annually to a photographer whose past work and proposed project, as judged by a panel of experts, follows the tradition of W. Eugene Smith’s concerned photography and dedicated compassion exhibited during his 45-year career as a photographic essayist.

This was my first attempt at shooting video with a still camera. I used the Nikon D300s and experimented in different situations from riding on the hood of a taxi in Mumbai, India to the deadly, blowing sands of the Thar desert in Rajasthan.  Or maybe its the other way around.. more deadly is sitting [ … ]

Thank you Jayson Singe of Neonsky.com for helping me design my original website which was created almost nine years ago. Nine years… eternity in the world of the web. I am grateful for his immense talent, sensibilities and innovative ideas. The site helped launch my career as a photojournalist and also became a prototype for [ … ]

Camel fair-trading-Camel traders from India look at the vast offerings as sun falls at the largest camel fair in the world in Pushkar, India in the state of Rajasthan November 26, 2001. Thousands of camels and traders come to the annual event which some say have been going on for centuries.

In Western news accounts, Kashmir is invariably described as an important piece in a longstanding geopolitical puzzle. It is identified as the axis of relations between India and Pakistan, a “nuclear flashpoint” that could spark an unthinkable war in South Asia. While these characterizations are accurate, they overlook the intrinsic value of Kashmir as an [ … ]

Villagers fetch water from a polluted hole in the village of Dambas, 80 kilometers outside of Wajir, in northern Kenya May 10, 2006.

Villagers fetch water from a polluted hole in the village of Dambas, 80 kilometers outside of Wajir, in northern Kenya May 10, 2006. Many people are suffering from diarrhoea, cholera, malaria and are even more vulnerable to diseases because of their weakened state. The number of people who are at risk in the Horn of [ … ]

The Howard Chapnick Grant was developed to encourage and support leadership in fields ancillary to photojournalism, such as editing research, education and management. The annual $5,000 grant may be used to finance any of a range of qualified undertakings, which might include a program of further education, research, a special long-term sabbatical project, or an [ … ]