A minor miracle"
"Pandas Gone Wild" depicts what Vitale calls "a minor miracle": a program at the Wolong National Nature Reserve releasing captive born pandas back into the wild.
"It turns out that after one generation in captivity, pandas forget how to live in the wild, and you have to train them," she explains.
Embedded with the program, Vitale had to work incognito, wearing a panda suit laced with their scent, so as not to unsettle the bears.
Vitale finds plenty of common ground between the animals and their human carers.
"I think all of us, every creature, is a big mystery," the photographer says.
She suggests the key is to give the subject enough time to reveal themselves. Vitale should know, having been an "incredibly shy, introverted and gawky" child before picking up a camera.
"The first time I held a camera it became this incredible tool for me to go out and engage with the world," she remembers. "Suddenly I realized that I didn't have to be afraid of people. And so photography became my passport to really go out and feel empowered."