One hundred photographers have contributed wildlife photos to the Vital Impacts initiative. The images will be sold to raise funds and awareness for grassroots conservation organizations. This photo, by Hannah Le Leu, shows a green sea turtle hatchling surfacing for air near Heron Island, Australia, beneath a sky filled with predatory birds.
Vital Impacts was founded by visual journalist Eileen Mignoni and Ami Vitale, who was a conflict photographer for a decade before becoming a wildlife photographer. This image by Vitale shows Kilifi, an 18-month-old rhino, and his keeper, Kamara. Kilifi was hand-raised at Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya.
Here, Joseph Wachira comforts Sudan, the last male northern white rhino on the planet, moments before its death in March 2018 at Ol Pejeta Conservancy in northern Kenya. Now, two females are all that remains of the species. "I think that this image is so beautiful and heartbreaking," said Vitale. "It represents the best and worst of humanity. I think people like JoJo (Joseph Wachira) in this photo represent the best of humanity, and that we all have it in us, and that it's just about reimagining our world and dreaming and believing that we can change this course that we're on."
Rajan, a 66-year-old Asian elephant swimming in the Indian Ocean. Rajan was taken to the the Andaman Islands for logging in the 1950s, according to photographer Jody MacDonald. After logging was banned, Rajan continued to live there, "sunbathing on the beach, swimming in the ocean and foraging in the forest," until his death until 2016.
Orangutans are known to imitate human behavior and this youngster is sheltering from the rain under a leaf. The orangutan is Asia's only great ape and is found mostly in Borneo and Sumatra in Indonesia. Bornean orangutan populations have fallen by more than 50% over the past 60 years, and the species has lost more than half its habitat in the past 20 years, according to the WWF.
Crabeater seals relaxing in the Antarctic, in an image captured by conservation photography pioneer Cristina Mittermeier. Through her organization SeaLegacy, Mittermeier is working to support new marine protected areas in the Antarctic Peninsula.
This image shows Death Valley National Park, in California. "Being an International Dark Sky Park, the night environment of Death Valley is protected from light pollution which makes it a favorite stargazing destination, being only a few hours drive away from Los Angeles or Las Vegas," photographer Babak Tafreshi told Vital Impacts.
For his project "Day to Night," Stephen Wilkes creates images of landscapes photographed from a fixed camera angle for up to 30 hours. Blending these images into a single photograph can take months. Pictured, is Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.
This photograph by Anand Varma shows an Anna's hummingbird drinking artificial nectar through a glass vessel, using its forked tongue.
Dragon's blood trees in the Shebehon Forest, on the island of Socotra, Yemen. "Once part of a vast forest, these remaining trees are now classified as endangered," photographer Beth Moon told Vital Impacts. "Recent years have shown a troubling decline due to over-grazing by goats, harvesting from islanders, and insufficient cloud cover needed for young saplings."
Here, celebrated primatologist Jane Goodall is pictured with a telescope, searching for chimpanzees in the forest of Gombe National Park, Tanzania. Goodall took this photo in around 1962, using a camera fastened to a tree branch. "I had to find a place where there was a tree that was just right for balancing the camera," Goodall told Vital Impacts. "I had to set up the tripod and fiddle about until I had the tripod and the imagined image of me framed just right ... I was pretty proud of myself. I love that picture."
A harp seal pup shelters from the winds that scour the sea ice covering the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada, photographed by Jennifer Hayes.
Two jaguars being rescued from the illegal pet trade in south of Cancun, Mexico, in 2008. The animals had been kept as pets and then simply let loose when they were no longer wanted, according to photographer Steve Winter. These two animals were rescued and lived out their days in a sanctuary. Winter and his wife Sharon Guynup have been uncovering the illegal trade of big cats for decades.
A bird's-eye view of Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake. "During Winter the ice is up to 1.5 meters thick, allowing trucks and animals to cross safely," photographer Matthieu Paley told Vital Impacts. "The white lines are cracks in the ice and as temperatures change these emit loud shuddering noises, reinforcing the eerie atmosphere."
These monkeys are pictured at the wildlife rehab center at ONG Animals World in Libreville, Gabon. This photograph is part of the Photo Ark, a documentary project founded by photographer Joel Sartore to save species and habitat.
This image of sandstone pillars in Wulingyuan, China, was captured by Michael Yamashita.
Harriet, a giant eagle owl, was rescued as a chick and has lived at Kuimba Shiri Bird Sanctuary in Zimbabwe for 35 years, according to photographer Nick Brandt. The fog was created by fog machines on location, as a "unifying visual." "We increasingly find ourselves in a kind of limbo, a natural world now fading from view," Brandt told Vital Impacts. "The fog is also an echo of the suffocating smoke from the wildfires, intensified by climate change, devastating so much of the planet."
The final moments before the death of the last male northern white rhino, a 66-year-old elephant swimming in the ocean, and renowned primatologist Jane Goodall searching for chimpanzees in Tanzania in the early 1960s; these are all moments captured in a collection of powerful photographs that have been donated to raise funds for conservation projects.
Works by 100 photographers from around the world will be sold until the end of the year by Vital Impacts, a non-profit that provides financial support to community-orientated conservation organizations and amplifies the work of photographers who are raising awareness of their efforts. Contributing is a who’s who of nature photography, including Paul Nicklen, Ami Vitale, Jimmy Chin, Chris Burkard, Nick Brandt, Beth Moon, Stephen Wilkes and Goodall herself.
“Each image has a really profound story behind it,” said Vitale, an award-winning photographer and co-founder of Vital Impacts. “I worked really hard when I was curating this to make sure that these photographers are diverse, but the one thing they all share is this commitment to the planet. They’re using their art to help conservation.”
‘An inspiration to the world’
Goodall’s photograph of herself, sitting with a telescope on a high peak in Gombe, Tanzania, was taken around 1962 using a camera that she fastened to a tree branch. “I was pretty proud of myself. I love that picture,” said Goodall in a video message for Vital Impacts. All the proceeds from her self-portrait will go to supporting her Roots & Shoots program, which educates young people and empowers them to care for the world.
“It’s breathtaking work,” said Vitale, who only found out that Goodall was a photographer after reaching out to her about supporting the program. “She’s been such an inspiration to the world. This one woman has had such an impact for the betterment of the planet.”
Vital Impacts has tried to make the print sale carbon neutral by planting trees for every print that is made. Sixty per cent of profits from the sale will be divided between four groups involved in wildlife or habitat protection: Big Life Foundation, Great Plains Foundation’s Project Ranger, Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots program, and SeaLegacy. The remaining 40% will go to the photographers to help them continue their work.
‘Our shared life raft’
Vitale was a conflict photographer for a decade before becoming a wildlife photographer. She hopes that people will be “inspired by all of this work” and that the photographs make people “fall in love” with our “magnificent planet.”
“The planet is our shared life raft and we’ve poked some holes in it, but it’s not too late,” added Vitale. “We can all do little acts that can have profound impacts. That’s kind of why I named it ‘Vital Impacts,’ because I think very often we are all so disconnected and don’t realize how we are interconnected. Everything we do impacts one another and shapes this world.”
One of her photographs in the print sale, “Goodbye Sudan,” shows Sudan, the last male northern white rhino, being comforted by one of his keepers, Joseph Wachira, at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in northern Kenya moments before the rhino’s death in March 2018. Now, two females are all that remains of this species.
“It’s such an important story to me because it made me realize that watching these animals go extinct is actually like watching our own demise in slow motion, knowing that it’s going to impact humanity,” said Vitale.
“It’s so deeply interwoven. That’s what led me down this path and now I really try to find these stories which show us a way forward, where people are learning how to coexist and protect wildlife and the habitats that we all share.”