Ami Vitale - Ten Questions

There are some people who compulsively walk on the road less travelled by. They believe, with unshakeable conviction, that headlines don't quite report the entire reality. While we stop at reading the statistics and analysis of stories about topics as stark as war, they read the stories in the eyes of the people who have lost their families, whose lives have been shattered, who have been reduced to be mere spectators while their lives slipped off their hands, who feel their mere existence is a favour bestowed upon them by the people in power. While the fires of conflict spread across, they love to sit beside the child who's watching it all helplessly in horror.

Ami Vitale has done that for years. She travelled to Kosovo where she spent eight months documenting the plight of refugees. She worked as an editor for the Associated Press in New York and Washington D.C. She's also worked for USA Today and the Raleigh News and Observer. Her photographs and stories from events across the world have appeared in publications including Time, Newsweek, US News and World Report, Businessweek, The Guardian, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, etc.

Given a chance to go back in time, which event would you love to capture on film? Why?
If I had to choose only one thing, I would love to go back and meet my grandfather when he was exploring America as a hobo in the Great Depression. He was such an interesting character and I would love to see this time of history through his eyes.

If camera were not invented till now, which career would you have chosen?
I'd love to be a pianist.

As a photographer, sometimes being amid the very place of brutal conflicts and chaos, what do you feel about war and the tragedies it inflicts?
In most cases it is the people without a voice who suffer the most. They are pawns in a greater game of power. A Kikiyu Proverb says it well..."When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers."

War in the middle-east, unrest in Angola, clashes in Prague - you've shot all this and more. What drives you to take up such challenges fraught with insecurity?
I actually do not seek out violence. I am more interested in telling the stories of people who need their stories to be told. I try to show how this violence affects people.

Which medium do you feel is the most powerful to put across message to people, to inspire them to at least think, if not realise and act?
I think it's different for everyone. Some people are moved by music, others by poetry, books, images. Everyone is affected differently.

How effective do you feel has been the Web medium in making news reach people? Do you believe its potential is being fully utilised?
There is always opportunity to make things better. I believe we have just touched on the surface of what this medium will be. Right now it's a great way to get alternative viewpoints but now it does not reach enough people. It crosses international boundaries easily but does not reach all the groups or regions needed to make it a truly widespread media.

What made you a photographer - love for camera or love for life and world?
I never cared much about the technical aspects. I have always tried to photograph people and issues that I care about rather than what others thought I "should" be photographing. I mean that many people told me not to bother documenting most of the things that I have chosen to pursue because they claimed that no one would ever care. I gave up a lot of stability and security so that I could pursue stories that the mainstream media was not necessarily interested in.

Which assignment do you feel was most challenging/rewarding?
That is a difficult question. They all are rewarding in different ways. My time spent in the West African country of Guinea Bissau is the most memorable. I lived with a Fulani tribe and took a half year to learn the language and try to understand the daily aspects of life there. It was not just about photography and much of the time was not spent photographing. I shared a hut and the daily responsibilities with 2 co-wives and all of their children.

In many ways it was more difficult to make meaningful photographs but I loved my time there and everything I learned from it. I also felt that a handful of the pictures said something more than the images I made in other more dramatic places.

What do you think about India?
Incredibly complex. It's going to take me a few more years to give an answer with any substance.

What would be the title of your autobiography, assuming you write one?
Little Flowers crack cement.

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- Vj

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