For more than three decades, Heinz Plenge has traveled Peru capturing the most varied geographical, natural, historical, and cultural aspects of this diverse country through his special sensitivity and artistic vision, evidenced by the more than 150,000 images that are the product of over a hundred expeditions to the tropical forests, the Andes, the deserts, and the Peruvian coast and that are the most complete photographic archive of the nature, archeology, and peoples of Peru.

Nevertheless, his passion for nature has compelled him to make direct decisions for conserving the environment, turning him into a leader of innovative conservation practices and of the fight against poverty in Peru, in particular for promoting sustainable natural resources development in rural and indigenous communities, proprietors of lands possessing incredible potential for eco-tourism, such as the case of the Chaparri Ecological Reserve, the first Private Conservation Area in Peru.

He is considered to be the best nature photographer in Peru, and his work has received recognition and won national and international awards, for example, the prestigious German foundation Bruno H. Schubert Environment Award, the Cambie Prize for the Arts awarded by the Scientific University of the South, as well as his recognition by the Coca-Cola Company for his work on the project, Coca-Cola en Comunidad.

He has furthermore published many books, whose titles include Peru Wildlife (1993), The Golden Jalca (1998), Marvelous Peru (2001), Birds of the Clouds (2004), Guide to the Wildlife of Chaparri (2005), Jalca: The Andean Ecosystem (2006); he is currently editing the book, From the Pacific to the Heart of the Amazon.

His photographs have been used in publications of such prominent institutions as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Smithsonian Institution, the Field Museum of Chicago, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Conservation International (CI), and BirdLife International, as well as having been published in internationally renowned magazines such as National Geographic (English and Spanish Edition), Geo (Germany, France, Korea, and Spain), BBC Wildlife, Natural History, The New York Times Magazine, Mother Jones, Conde Nast Traveler, Connoisseur, Terra, Geomundo, Airone, Omega, Fotografie Draussen, Seven Seas, and World Birdwatching.

Among his most famous photographic works are the discovery of the Lord of Sipan and the rediscovery of the White-winged Guan. In addition, his photo documentaries Homage to the Earth and Peru, the Rain Sanctuary, have toured the world, spreading the word about the system of protected areas, as well as the Peruvian Amazonian forests respectively.

His photographs are published for a variety of purposes, but the most important are those used to further education in Peru, such as those used in textbooks and notebooks, as well as the ones that foster appreciation for Peruvian nature like ones found in coffee table books, calendars, and stamps. It is important to point out that the governmental agency for the promotion of Peru, PromPeru, constantly uses his photographs in their international dissemination campaigns.

He has moreover presented more than thirty individual photographic exhibitions in Europe, Asia, North, Central, and South America, where his exhibition of Peru, the Rain Sanctuary for National Geographic (Spanish edition) and Peruvian Wildlife presented by the Open Shutter Gallery stand out.

Currently, he splits his time between his photographic/editor activities and his administration of conservation and eco-tourism projects in northern Peru.