Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Yann Arthus-Bertrand (1946) is a French photographer, journalist, reporter and environmentalist. He is especially well known for his book Earth from Above (1999) and his film Home (2009).

In 1963 when he was 17, he became an assistant director, then an actor in movies. He played alongside famous actors such as Michèle Morgan in Dis-moi qui tuer (1965) by Etienne Perier and in OSS 117 prend des vacances (1970) by Pierre Kalfon.

He gave up the movie industry in 1967 to run the Château de Saint Augustin wildlife park in Château-sur-Allier (centre of France). He then left the country with his wife Anne when he was 30 (1976) to live in Kenya in the Masai Mara National Reserve. He lived amongst the Maasai tribe for 3 years to study the behaviour of a lions' family and took daily pictures of them during those years. He thus discovered a new passion for photography and the beauty of landscapes when observed from above in hot air balloons and understood how to communicate using these means.

He came back to France in 1981, published a photographs book Lions in 1983, and became an international journalist, reporter and photographer specialised in documentaries on sports, wildlife and aerial photography for French magazines such as Paris Match and GEO. And, more interesting here, made portraits of a gaucho and his horse - with beret.

In 1994 Arthus-Bertrand started a thorough study on the state of the Earth sponsored by UNESCO. As part of the study, he made a picture inventory of the world's most beautiful landscapes, taken from helicopters and hot-air balloons. The book from this project, Earth from Above sold over 3 million copies and was translated into 24 languages.

In 2000, his "Earth from Above" free exhibition was set up on numerous big posters on the gates of the Jardins du Luxembourg in Paris. It then traveled worldwide from Lyon to Montreal, to 110 cities and was visited by 120 million people.