About the Book

Lavish and completely captivating, Through the Eyes of the Condor splashes the vibrant colors, textures, and rhythms of Latin America across more than a hundred stunning canvases, each the work of aerial photographer Robert B. Haas. From high up, surprising patterns emerge from places both grand and simple. Showcasing knife-edged peaks and lush jungles, bird-flocked coastlines and harsh deserts, this strikingly original collection is a soaring thrill ride over the entire sweep of Latin America.

By leaning from the open doors of helicopters and small planes, Haas was able to capture patterns in the land and its wildlife that emerge only from above, showing us that beauty can be found in unexpected places.

Interspersed among the photos are short, journal-like meditations on the art of aerial photography and the trials and tribulations of this epic odyssey. Introducing this brilliant cornucopia of photographs, National Book Award–nominee Marie Arana writes of an expedition with Haas: “He was showing me my native land as my ancestors had longed to see it—as every shaman who ever drank a hallucinogenic brew hoped to experience it.” The photographs in Through the Eyes of the Condor deliver that same breathless, cloud-high thrill.

Since 2002, Robert Haas has focused his artistic endeavors exclusively on aerial photography in an effort to capture the grandeur and mystique of Earth’s continents from this unique perspective. Haas’s aerial photographs have appeared in major exhibits in New York, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Japan, Germany, the People’s Republic of China, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Portugal. His work has also been featured on CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, FOX, and in American Way magazine and numerous publications around the world.

Throughout his photographic career, which now encompasses six books published since 1998, Haas has donated copies of his books and all royalties to schools, libraries, nonprofit foundations, and wildlife conservation organizations throughout the world. In 2002, Haas received a United Nations Environment Program award for his contributions on behalf of endangered species and the environment.

Haas is chairman of the board of Haas Wheat & Partners, a Dallas-based private investment firm that specializes in strategic equity investments. A graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, Haas has endowed professorships and has been a frequent lecturer at both institutions.