To have success in your professional life is not so hard. To succeed as a man is more difficult.

To have success in your professional life is not so hard. To succeed as a man is more difficult.

I always take hundreds and hundreds of pictures. I used to work for National Geographic, and they gave us a lot of film.

The lions taught me photography. They taught me patience and the sense of beauty, a beauty that penetrates you.

For nearly two years, I was flying above the planet with my camera. I knew straight away that this was something important to do, just at this moment, a portrait of the planet for the millennium year. I worked in 80 countries, fighting for money all the time.

I wanted to be a scientist. I did a thesis on lions. But I realised photography can show things writing can't. Lions were my professor of photography.

The Rio Earth Summit in 1992 changed my life completely, turning me into an activist. From the air, you see things you can't see from the ground - you really understand the impact of man, even in a place you know well. My work is meant to convince people we can no longer live like this.