094: Pandas & Peace with Ami Vitale

Pandas & Peace with National Geographic Photographer Ami Vitale

What’s it really like to be a nature photographer for National Geographic?

Photographer Ami Vitale shares her passion for pandas & peace, the reality of being a National Geographic photographer and tips on how to build your career.

Becoming a Nature Photographer

If you’re going to try to break into journalism photography, it’s not about traveling and seeing the exotic. It’s about knowing your subject and going deep.
Take something that only you know well, and spend a lot of time on that story.
You need a lot of curiosity!
A lot of the work is self-funded in the beginning. By the time you catch the attention of National Geographic editors, you’ve already invested a lot of time and money and work.
Ami views National Geographic as a platform, rather than a way to make a living.
You may have to speak, write, make films, etc. in addition to nature photography to make a living.
When a magazine hires you, you first have to come up with a budget proposal. Then, they offer you a flat fee, much like a grant. Sometimes you can find someone to co-fund the project, but you have to find someone to do that.
Social media matters! You have to fight through shyness and share yourself and your platform with the world.

Pandas & Peace

Pandas are solitary, quiet creatures who only come together once a year to breed.
There are a lot of misconceptions about wild animals.
The extinction that is happening now is human driven.
The pandas are cute, but we have to bring it back to realizing that we are a part of this natural world. Nature is incredibly resilient if you give it a chance.