Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Born in France in 1946, Yann Arthus-Bertrand always had a passion for nature and, at the age of 30, he moved to Kenya with his wife, Anne, to study the behaviour of lions in the Masaai Mara Reserve. While there he discovered a unique way of capturing through photography the stunning landscapes - flying above the earth in a hot air balloon. In 1991, he founded the Altitude, a photo agency that specializes in aerial photography. In 1999, he published the « Earth from Above » a book, followed the next year by a large-scale public exhibit in Paris. Both had unprecedented success. To date the book sold 3 million copies worldwide in 21 languages and the exhibition has traveled to cities around the world to reach over 130 million visitors. The idea was to inspire people to think globally about sustainable living while admiring aerial pictures that show our planet in all its fragile and stunning splendor. By 2005, Yann Arthus-Bertrand, created GoodPlanet, an NGO that develops projects whose shared objective is to educate about sustainable development and request that individuals feel responsable for the future of the planet and of all of its inhabitants. His new film "Home", released in 2009 illustrates the beauty of our planet, its social and ecological crisis and the urgent need for humanity to change course.