Shaba: A Film by Ami Vitale

I am so excited to share my new short film, Shaba, about the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary’s first matriarch elephant and the extraordinary bonds she formed with a herd of baby orphaned elephants and the people who rescued her.

Shaba arrived traumatized after poachers shot her mother dead. This is a story about learning to trust those that we fear. She teaches us about love and our connections to all of life around us. Hurry! If you stream the film online now until August 31st, your ticket will be a direct donation to the sanctuary: buying milk, blankets and medicines to support the baby elephants and the people who have committed their lives to protecting them. Reteti Elephant Sanctuary is the first indigenous owned and run elephant sanctuary in Africa.

Tickets can be purchased via our website (shabafilm.org). All tickets are direct donations to support Reteti Elephant Sanctuary. Go to shabafilm.org to watch today and please share with your friends.

National Geographic Storytellers Summit

The National Geographic Storytellers Summit is a multi-day celebration of story, featuring the photographers, filmmakers, journalists, and data visualizers who witness the major events of our time, illuminate critical issues, and inspire action.

Photographer and National Geographic Explorer Ami Vitale delivered the talk, "How to Photograph Hope." Ami has covered conflict, violence, and heartbreak—like photographing the last Northern white rhino during his dying moments—but she’s also made it her mission to find and capture stories of hope.

Reteti Elephant Sanctuary by Ami Vitale

Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, in northern Kenya is the first ever community-owned and run elephant sanctuary in Africa. The sanctuary provides a safe place for injured elephants to heal and later, be returned back to the wild.

Dave Matthews Visits Reteti Elephant Sanctuary

Musician Dave Matthews along with organizations like Conservation International are taking a stand for elephants and for the communities protecting them and you can join us in making an IMPACT. I am honored to have made a film with Dave at the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in Kenya, the very first community-owned and elephant sanctuary in all of Africa. Watch the film of Dave and his incredible song “Mother of Africa” and more importantly, enter to win a chance to visit the sanctuary yourself at prizeo.com/elephants

My Africa: A Virtual Reality Experience

In Northern Kenya, the futures of wildlife and people are intertwined. Stand in the midst of a thundering wildebeest migration, witness a lioness snatch her prey—and meet a community dedicated to saving Africa’s wildlife in My Africa. The mixed-reality, companion experience directed by Ami Vitale puts participants in the shoes of a Reteti Elephant Sanctuary keeper caring for the newest arrival, a baby elephant named Dudu. The film is an official selection for the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival. Learn more at conservation.org/myafrica

Pandas: Behind the Scenes

In a region where bad environmental news is common, the giant panda might prove to be the exception and is a testament to the perseverance and efforts of Chinese scientists and conservationists. By breeding and releasing pandas, augmenting existing populations and protecting habitat, they may be on their way to successfully saving their most famous ambassador and in the process put the wild back into an icon. Pandas’ irresistible power make them important ambassadors for ALL endangered species.

The Last of the Northern White Rhinos

In 2009, I followed four of the last eight Northern White rhinos as they were brought back to Africa from a zoo in the Czech Republic. It was a desperate, last ditch effort to save an entire species. When I saw these huge, hulking, gentle creatures surrounded by smokestacks and factories in the zoo outside of Prague, it seemed so unfair that we have reduced an entire species to this. Today, with only five left, extinction is now inevitable. It survived for millions of years, but could not survive mankind.

Bangladesh: A Climate Trap Trailer

Scientists are predicting that climate change could lead to a rise in sea levels that would flood at least 17 percent of Bangladesh and create around 20-35 million refugees by 2050. Monsoon rains in the region are concentrating into a shorter period, causing a cruel combination of more extreme floods and longer periods of drought. In the capital of Dhaka, the impact is already being felt, with some half a million migrants arriving in the city each year. These “climate change refugees” are pouring mostly into squalid slums and the biggest reason for moving is environmental degradation.

The Cost of Coal: Overview

Award-winning photojournalist Ami Vitale traveled with SIERRA magazine to Appalachia where coal is mined, to Michigan where coal is burned, and to Nevada where coal ash water is stored -- and discovered the Cost of Coal through the people who live with it. SIERRA asked people across the land to describe how the world's dirtiest energy source has disrupted their lives—and what they're doing to stop it.

Mirages: India

Ami captures Indian culture in all its beauty with the Nikon D300S. "I shoot in harsh conditions, and really put this camera to the test, starting in India's unforgiving Thar Desert, in blistering temperatures...thankfully, the vulnerable parts of the D300S body are well sealed and despite all odds, worked impeccably." See more @ My Nikon Life: http://mynikonlife.com.au

Tedx Shanghai: Half the Truth

Ami Vitale has explored the world from temples to war zones and has recently turned her lens to compelling wildlife stories such as returning critically endangered species, like the giant panda and the northern white rhino, back to the wild. She has traveled to more than 90 countries, bearing witness not only to violence and conflict, but also to surreal beauty and to the enduring power of the human spirit. Travel with Ami on her fascinating personal odyssey that reveals what unites us as human beings.

Nat Geo Live: Photographing the Beauty of Life in the Shadow of War

While in Gaza on assignment documenting the second Palestinian uprising, she happened upon a profound moment: a beautiful scene of a couple getting married amid all the chaos and violence upon which she had been asked to train her camera. Vitale wondered why these stories of love and beauty were not being told as well. Hear her talk about how she became a war photographer, and why she chose to focus her lens in a different direction.

Nat Geo Live: The Secret of Great Photography

What happens when you begin to photograph a story for National Geographic and the subject you are supposed to shoot refuses? Photographer Ami Vitale faced this problem when she began to photograph the last hand-pulled rickshaw pullers in India for a story she had pitched. Hear Vitale talk about how she changed the rickshaw pullers' minds and in the end got the photos.

Introducing Ami Vitale’s Skillshare Class

Adobe MAX 2014

Adobe MAX 2014 - Day 2 Opening Session. Community Inspires Creativity. Listen to Ami Vitale talk about her life’s work, how she does her amazing photography and maybe pick up a few pointers as she uncovers beautiful life in unexpected places.

Bangladesh Climate Change

Mamtaz Begum lives in the fishing village of South Tetulbarian in Bangladesh. Her husband died in a boat accident after capsizing because violent weather. Her mother died later in a cyclone and now she is left with 4 children to feed and very little means to support them. Twenty percent of the women in this village are widows because so many have lost their husbands in the seas. Coastal and fishing populations are particularly vulnerable and Fishing communities in Bangladesh are subject not only to sea-level rise, but also flooding and increased typhoons. Yet the largely fishing community cannot live without the sea.