BY JODY MacDONALD, RAJAN, THE SWIMMING ELEPHANT: This is Rajan. He is a 66-year-old Asian elephant brought to the Andaman Islands for logging in the 1950s. He and a small group of 10 elephants were forced to learn how to swim in the ocean to help bring the logged trees to nearby barges and then eventually swim onto the next island. When logging became banned in 2002, Rajan was out of a job. He spent the rest of his days living out an idyllic elephant retirement on one of the islands he helped log. I photographed him and his Majout (caretaker) named Nazroo who had been together for 30yrs and documented Rajan spending time sunbathing on the beach, swimming in the ocean and foraging in the forest Rajan was the last of the group to survive until his death in 2016. He was truly the last of his kind. This image is from the artist series "The Last of His Kind". An award-winning photographer, Jody MacDonald is no stranger to adventure and exploration in the last untamed corners of the planet.
NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER | A CONVERSATION

Vital Impacts: Creating opportunities through coming together

In an impromptu podcast, News Photographer editor Sue Morrow explores the mission of Vital Impacts with photographer Ami Vitale. The transcript is below the pictures.

By Sue Morrow
Editor, News Photographer

December 10, 2021 - One of the joys of this position is the pleasure to connect with a lot of different people and I was thrilled to catch up with photographer and filmmaker Ami Vitale about her new nonprofit Vital Impacts. I was going to write a story, but five minutes into our conversation, I stopped and said,” Ami, what you are saying and how you are saying it cannot be conveyed in words alone. Can you hop on a Zoom call and we’ll record it?” It was impromptu and neither of us was prepared to be on camera (y’all know what I’m talking about these days!) so here is our 20-minute conversation (with light editing).

Vital Impacts came to my attention through a recent newsletter from Ami. I went to the site and became transfixed with the multitude of phenomenal photography being offered for sale (and various price levels) to benefit the photographers and four nonprofits: Big Life Foundation, Great Plains Foundation's Project Ranger, Jane Goodall Institute's Roots & Shoots and SeaLegacy.

With visual journalist Eileen Mignoni, Ami formed this women-led non-profit to provide “financial assistance and amplify the narrative of community-oriented organizations dedicated to protecting and preserving human and wildlife habitats.”

That really got my attention. My love for photography, combined with a deep commitment to the welfare of animals, hooked me. I was tempted to use more pictures here on the nppa.org site, but I encourage you to spend time on Vital Impacts. It’s got it all.

Ami talks about how each picture has a story. The extraordinary Jane Goodall is participating with a signed self-portrait. And the elephant swimming (above)? Well, check out the story of Rajan by photographer Jody MacDonald. Jody’s picture of Rajan is available as print, too, along with 99 other photographers.

Enough words. Listen. Feast your eyes on Vital Impacts.

Sue Morrow is the editor of News Photographer magazine for the NPPA, which is now digital-only. Stories are posted occasionally on nppa.org. Additional stories are in the making as Sue gets in the swing of post-editing and design of 2021 Best of Photojournalism book production (at the printers now). She can be reached at [email protected].

Transcript is below the pictures.

MORE NEWS PHOTOGRAPHER STORIES

By JANE GOODALL, SELF PORTRAIT: In her early days at Gombe, Dr. Jane Goodall spent many hours sitting on a high peak with binoculars or a telescope, searching the forest below for chimpanzees. She made this photo of herself with a camera fastened to a tree branch. Says Dr. Goodall, "I was really excited to see that that photo of me looking out at the valley at Gombe with my trusty lightweight telescope was chosen. It was taken in, I think, 1962. I was on my own, very high up in the hills and I thought what a great photo this would make. I had to find a place where there was a tree that was just right for balancing the camera. I had to set up the tripod and fiddle about until I had the tripod and the imagined image of me framed just right. That was in the days before digital so I had to wait a long time before I got the results back from National Geographic. I was pretty proud of myself. I love that picture." Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) and UN Messenger of Peace, is a world-renowned ethologist and activist inspiring greater understanding and action on behalf of the natural world. Learn more about Dr. Jane Goodall. 100% of net proceeds from this print will go to supporting the Jane Goodall Institute's Roots and Shoots program
BY AIMEE JAN, GREEN SEA TURTLE: A resting endangered Green Sea Turtle surrounded by Glass Fish on the back of the Ningaloo reef. Aimee Jan is an underwater photographer based in Australia focusing on the Ningaloo Reef, Exmouth. She was recently named the 2021 Ocean Photographer of Year.
BY AMI VITALE, YE YE IN THE MIST: Ye Ye, a 16-year-old giant panda, lounges in a wild enclosure at a conservation center in Wolong Nature Reserve. Her name, whose characters represent Japan and China, celebrates the friendship between the two nations. Ye Ye’s cub Hua Yan (Pretty Girl) is being trained for release into the wild. By breeding and releasing pandas, augmenting existing populations, and protecting habitat, China is on its way to successfully saving its most famous ambassador, and in the process, putting the wild back into an icon. National Geographic Magazine photographer and filmmaker Ami Vitale has traveled to more than 100 countries, bearing witness not only to violence and conflict but also to surreal beauty and the enduring power of the human spirit.
BY ANAND VARMA, ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD IN FLIGHT: Scientists use tiny water droplets created by ultrasonic foggers to visualize the airflow around the wing of an Anna's hummingbird, scientific name: Calypte anna, in flight. This is a recreation of an experiment conducted by postdoctoral researcher Victor Ortega Jimenez of the Dudley Lab at the University of California, Berkeley. Photographed in the Clark Lab at the University of California, Riverside. Anand Varma is a National Geographic Explorer and award-winning photographer based in Berkeley, Calif.
By ANDY MANN, ARCTIC ANGEL: While on a remote climbing expedition in Greenland, I was approached by a curious polar bear while scouting fjords in a small zodiac boat. The moment lasted only a brief second before the bear dove down and into the icy arctic sea. I hope this image transports people to wild arctic regions and creates an emotional connection with this fragile ecosystem. Andy Mann is an Emmy-nominated Director, three-time Telly-Award Winner, National Geographic Photographer & marine conservationist whose imagery is helping tell the story of our rapidly changing planet.
By BEVERLY JOUBERT, CHEETAH HOPE: Cheetah mother in the Mara ecosystem (Olare Motorogi Conservancy) that we are protecting through Great Plains Conservation and the Olare Motorogi Conservancy board. We lease land from 4,000 Maasai to keep the area protected. This female is referred to as Immani - she and her cubs star in our latest film “The Way of the Cheetah”. Beverly Joubert is a real child of Africa, and that seems to make all the difference to her work. Her roots are deeply embedded in her imagery because of this knowledge of her subjects.

TRANSCRIPT OF THE ABOVE RECORDING (lightly edited)

Sue Morrow Hi, I'm Sue Morrow from the NPPA (National Press Photographers Association) and I am here today in Athens, Ohio, and Ami Vitale is in Montana … Bozeman?

Ami Vitale Missoula

SM Okay. Missoula, Montana. Thank you, Ami, for being here. We've known each other for a long time. We've not spent a lot of time together, but I tried to hire you back in the early two thousands and at the St. Pete Times (now the Tampa Bay Times), and you said, “I'm not ready for newspapers. I kind of wanna do some other things,” and my God, how, what you have done. You've done so many, so many other things, and I've kept an eye on you and been so proud and just the work that you do, that touches and fulfills the hearts of many. And I wanna talk about that today.

AV Thank you, Sue. And I just wanna say, I think you do the same thing. Since I've known you, you’ve had this great ability to bring people together and, you know, for this greater good and, and also your journalism is off the charts. And frankly, there were very few women role models. When I first started, there were women role models and they were all pretty spectacular, but it was refreshing to meet you in your role when you were at the St Pete Times.

SM Thank you. Those were great years. Those were really great years in newspapers, but, we're all meant to do what we're meant to do. And I'm just so pleased to be talking to you now about Vital Impacts. Tell me how this got started, who was involved, what motivated you and we'll start there.

AV Okay. So I have been thinking a lot about this industry that we are both involved in. Which is deeply competitive with everyday shrinking opportunities. It is hard to be a photographer in today's world. And I have also realized this other profound truth that we are all so much more powerful when we come together and people don't need help. People need opportunities. And so I have created this nonprofit, which will have many different initiatives, but the first one is a fine art print sale.
We have a hundred serious photographers, including one Jane Goodall who many of us know is a conservation hero, but it turns out she's also a fantastic photographer. And we wanted to partner with Jane and on a whim, asked her, “Jane, do you have any photos you've taken?” And guess? She does! And she has this beautiful story that she's shared about out in 1963, trying to take a self-portrait with her in Gombe (Stream) National Park in Tanzania, while she was studying her beloved chimpanzees.

And she talks about spending so much time trying to figure out if the tripod was, you know, in the right place. And she kind of composed this picture without knowing if she would be in focus. And, you know, if it was composed correctly with the tree on one side and Jane there with this magnificent scene of the mountains. She said it took, and she waited months and months until the film was processed and it could come back to see how it turned out. But I love this. She's actually offered to hand sign a limited number of these, which is, I mean, can you imagine having a hand-signed Jane Goodall print? She's extraordinary, but it wasn't just her. I realized that we are all so much stronger together. And so I have some of the biggest names like Nick Brandt, Jimmy Chin, Paul Nicklin, Beth Moon, and Cristina Mittermeier, Stephen Wilkes, and the list goes on and on of people that will inspire you.

SM So people have the ability to purchase prints. What do the proceeds go to?

AV So on the one hand, it's creating opportunities for photographers, but there's also a give-back. I want the people on the ground who are doing great work for the environment for wildlife - for this planet - to also benefit. So currently what happens is 60% of the proceeds will go back to four conservation groups. And 40% of every sale goes back to the photographers because I also believe photographers and the storytellers need to benefit from these sales as well. And if we lift them up, they'll be able to continue doing this important work. So it's a win-win for everybody.
The four nonprofits I have chosen this time are Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots and Shoots program, which is actually a program that creates a whole new generation of conservationists. And she has programs all over the world that teach youth about the importance of protecting the environment and animals we coexist with. That's one nonprofit.

Another nonprofit is Nick Brandt’s The Big Life Foundation, which is amazing. He's done incredible work in Kenya in the Amboseli ecosystem to protect that landscape and hire rangers. He's just done so much over decades to support that landscape where so much of his own work comes from.

And then the same thing with Beverly Joubert, who is a personal hero to me as well. She is incredible and she has set up the Great Plains Foundation, and this will support rangers all over Africa who are protecting these ecosystems that are really vulnerable right now.

And then finally, Paul Nicklen and Cristina Mittermeier’s Sea Legacy. And I love that they have a focus on the oceans. And actually part of what I wanted to do with vital impacts is kind of have three areas that I'm focused on. One is the oceans. One is terrestrial, and the third is humanity.  Because we cannot talk about, saving the planet without talking about humanity and supporting the people who are protecting the planet.

So you know, I'm growing, we're small, it's just my co-founder Eileen, Mignoni. Her and I have been partnering now for over a decade together. And she and I have been working to kind of … it started off really small. The genesis was actually when I heard about, I think it was in 2016, and they decided that they wanted to reverse the ban on the trophy tusk trade from the hunting of the elephants, I think it was in Zimbabwe. And maybe one other country and the U.S. government said, we're gonna allow these trophies to start being imported back into the United States.

And I, I knew that that just fuels this whole industry and I was so enraged and wanted to do something. So I announced a print sale within 24 hours of their announcement. And almost immediately we've raised $50,000 for the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary. And I thought, wow, you know, there's something really powerful about taking that anger and doing and channeling it into something positive. And, and I know sometimes all of us are just filled with despair. If you turn on the news and see, you know, this assault that is happening on the planet. And I just think we have to find ways to turn something heartbreaking into something empowering. And so, you know, we've done so many fundraisers since then, and we kind of added up how much we've raised and it's over $3 million.

SM My goodness. That's, that's amazing.

AV And my amazing printer, it's not just print sales, we've done so many different kinds of fundraisers from partnering with amazing humans like Dave Matthews to Prizio and Omaze fundraiser campaigns and then the print sales. A friend of mine was like, you should do something with this. You know, there's real power being behind this. So we made it official and set up vital impacts as a nonprofit. And here we go, and we have a lot of new initiatives that this will be the first one and I'll announce new ones as we get farther along. Ah, so yeah, I don't know where it's gonna go (laughs) and I may choose to hang up the hat afterward … but let's see, let's see what we can all do together.

SM You've got a deadline on this first batch of prints. So tell me about that. Is it December 31st?

AV Yes. There's a sense of urgency. It all ends all good things must come to an end. So December 31st is the last day and we have such an extraordinary range of prints, um, that, you know, from the price point from the diversity of viewpoint. And I think the one thing that unites everybody involved is their shirt shared love and commitment to the environment. We have weekly flash sales that start at $100 and those are only on sale for one week. At the end of that week, you can no longer get that print again. So check in every week to see what's on the offer and then the regular prints start at $125 and they go all the way up to $30,000.

If there's anybody that has a lot of cash they wanna burn, go check out Nick Brandt’s beautiful print. And my hope is that we put these beautiful pieces that really make you think about the planet and where we are. They're thoughtful. You look at them and you just can't stop thinking they're inspiring. They, I think, make all of us kind of more activists in a lot of ways, and my hope is that people will put them in their homes and they will be a source of thoughtful conversation and make people care.

Because I think the first step, Sue, is falling in love with this beautiful world we have. We have this shared little life raft. And I think whether we understand it or not, we're in this intricate web together. And I do think that art and photography and storytelling can be the catalyst which ignites people and galvanizes people. And the other message is, if you want you can start in your own backyard. There's so much work that needs to be done. And so whether you're a photographer yourself or somebody who is engaged, there's so many ways to start. We have a lot of work ahead of us.

SM We do. What I love about the collection of photographs, is it puts the viewer front and center. They're standing in the shoes with photographers and, you know, um, Nick Brandt’s work, of course, one of my favorite books of his is sitting over on my desk and I can dream about having something of his on my wall. But, I love the accessibility of what you guys are doing in Vital Impacts. There's something for most everyone. So where do people go for your flash sale? How would they, how would they know when they are? The website or social media?

AV It's on the website. It's on social media. And, and you can sign up for newsletters to get reminders about the weekly flash sales.

The other thing I wanted to point out that I'm really proud of is we've worked so hard to find the printers who literally, I mean, every print is packaged, I think with a little bit of fairy dust and love inside. You can open up that print and feel the care and the commitment and the love that goes into even the printing process. And it's also carbon neutral. So we plant trees for every single print that is ordered. And we really have this commitment at every level too, you know, quality and care. Our printers, I should mention them, are Paper and Ink Studios, which is right here in Missoula, Montana. I go in and, and regularly see these prints and they are incredible. And then we have also worked hard to find other labs in different parts of the world so that we're not shipping across the planet when we don't need to, we have a lab in Europe and a lab in the UK. And as we grow, we're going to have more labs on the different continents so that our, you know, carbon footprint gets smaller and smaller.

SM Very cool. I can tell you that the packaging is wonderful. You described it perfectly. There's fairy dust that goes into it. I think I emailed, I think I emailed, I think I was like, oh my God, the packaging is beautiful.

AV She worked so hard to make sure, you know, it's not plastic. It's special. It's like a really special experience. Just opening it. Yeah. Anyway ...

SM Thank you. Well done, you. Well done.

AV It's a partnership. Thank you.

SM Can you tell us how it's going so far?

AV Well, we have ambitious goals, so we would like to raise or sell a million dollars worth of prints. That's our hope. We're almost at $400,000, which is not bad. But I wanna reach, you know, let's set it over that $1 million dollar mark and that could be amazing.

SM I love the quote you said to me when I first called you. Cuz I, I think I said, I talked about how I love to see what you're doing in your work and how you're helping people. And you said, yes, but I'd rather be seen that I create opportunities.

SM So I wanna circle back to that. I wanna circle back to that quote because people need opportunities. Our industry is deeply competitive, but in order to be a healthy body, wouldn't it be better to work together, to create opportunities for all of us to grow?

AV Yeah. I think this is a moment and it's reflected also in the world around us, but I think this is the perfect moment. The thing is we are in a very competitive industry with dramatically shrinking opportunities. So what we all need to be doing is creating more opportunities for all of us and bringing all of us together. We will be so much more powerful together is this beautiful force of nature. If we can, you know, find ways to set aside any differences we have, the competition out there there's room enough for all of us, empathy and opportunity are what we need right now.

SM Is there anything else I should touch on?

AV So what makes these images is so special? There is a story behind every single one of them. You know, it's not just beauty, it's not just putting beautiful art in your home, which is wonderful, but you have something to talk about and hopefully just inspire all of us to get more engaged. So I think that's really my parting thought.

SM Excellent. Good deal.

AV Yeah. Sue, you're at gem big love. (laughter) Thank you. Love you too. Wait, I'm gonna do a frame grab. Okay. Wait, one more. (laughter) Great. Got you! Wow. I hope you have happy holidays. Take good care.

SM Thank you. Take care.

(Goodbyes)

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