Ambassador Samantha Reinders

Samantha Reinders is an award-winning photographer and multimedia producer currently based in Cape Town, South Africa – pursuing stories there and abroad. She moved back to South Africa after completing her Masters in Visual Communication at Ohio University.

She is not 100% certain when her career actually began – but thinks it was either somewhere in the curious hills of Appalachia, whilst riding shotgun in her fathers beloved Landrover or sandwiched between two other photographers in the press pool in the Oval Office. (She covered the Washington, DC political landscape – including the White House and Capitol Hill in 2005). Either way, she’s glad it did because it has, among other things, allowed her to chase penguins, fly on Air Force One, swim with sharks and meet a collection of interesting people – from business men to homeless men, survivors, sadhus and sociopaths and grannies at a bake-sale. She’s explored remote islands, teeming cities and untouched landscapes. In this way she thinks the profession of photojournalism is a privilege.

It’s not surprising then that in addition to the work behind the lens Sam’s passion is to teach others to photograph. She believes that while the technical aspects of photography are important – great photography comes from the learning to change the way you see, and learning to interact with people outside of their everyday world. It’s that she thrives on sharing.

Sam’s Editorial and NGO Clients include:
Time, NPR, US News & World Report, The New York Times, MSF, The Gates Foundation, UNDP, L’Express, Der Spiegel, Vogue, National Geographic Books, The Smithsonian, The Sunday Times, Architectural Review, Readers Digest, Fader, ARISE, The London Financial Times, OSF (South Africa), The Ocean Conservancy, UN-USA and The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC).