Customer Reviews

Through The Eyes Of The Condor: An Aerial Vision of Latin America

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General-interest public lending libraries will appreciate this oversized volume packed with photos sweeping Latin America's landscapes. It comes from a renowned aerial photographer who provides over a hundred images representing his years of travel to fourteen Latin American countries. His photos celebrate towns, people, cultures and geography alike, providing double-page, panoramic photo spreads unparalleled elsewhere. Any collection with any interest in Latin American geography and culture - or geographic photography - needs this amazing, stunning collection.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Robert B. Haas is a corporate lawyer in Texas who came to photography fairly late in life. He claims to be afraid of heights, but has spent many hours hanging out of small planes and helicopters all over the world taking pictures of the topography. This volume contains 113 pictures "covering 14 countries and 80 percent of the Latin America land mass" according to the National Geographic.

On first reading, first viewing, rather, I found the images just stunning. I spent two hours lost in the images. As I walked home from the library, the images remained in my memory, but I had a vague feeling that something was missing. I did a bit of research, and found a couple of conflicting descriptions of these beautiful images.

National Geographic was accurate: "Photographs are presented in large double-page panoramas, inviting the viewer to appreciate their abstract qualities and become absorbed in rich details. The aerial perspective gives a generous view of the land below: While large-scale environmental effects may be seen, man's blemishes are mostly diminished when viewed against the vastness of the land. A full-page map highlights countries and specific places photographed."

That word "abstract" gnawed at me. Something was still elusive. The almost invariably reliable "Library Journal" held the answer.

"Somehow, the dazzling colors and intricate patterns don't add up to the absorbing and informative tour of the southern continent that we expect. Haas ... has developed a formula for identifying a pleasing pattern of water and earth or vegetation and focusing so tightly on it as to deny all context. ... The photos become optical puzzles or animal trophies rather than informative pictures of what passed beneath his aircraft. The procession of 113 photos with minimal text and weak captions is overwhelming, and the excellent photos are subsumed by the weaker ones and those in which digital manipulation has created bizarre coloration or pixelation."

I agree completely with the "Library Journal". Seen just as images, the book is a visual feast, but the pictures feed the senses and leave the intellect asking for more. There's nothing wrong with pretty pictures in a coffee table book, but I want something to think about. Let Marie Arana have the last word given my hot and cold reactions to this book:

From the Preface: "We leap to tell visitors that our countries hold a smorgasbord of landforms--coastline, desert, jungle, mountain, marshland, archipelago--all in defined geographic spaces, and often in dramatic contiguity. The white promontories of the Andes are not far from the impenetrable canopy of the Amazon, where every November the jungle floor is deluged by floodwaters, and jaguars are forced to swim with the pink dolphins. Not until I was flying 5,000 feet above the earth did I see how close and interdependent those landforms truly are. A few minutes in the air can take you from the vernal cliffs of Lima's seaside suburbs to the windblown desert of Chan Chan, the once grand citadel of the Chimu; or from the unforgiving rock over which the conquistadores labored to the green vales of Cajamarca. All of it, interconnected. One."

Robert C. Ross 2008

fair warning this is a large sized book,all the photos are shot from the air
some of the shots are close up and others are wide and high up
most photos are of nature/natural there are also a few of
built up/city/industrial
photos of any kind are subjective,even though i liked most,some were great
a few didn't do it for me
i still recomend it

This was an amazing book! The photos have such beautiful color and perspective. As an added bonus, all proceeds from this book sales go to the National Geographic Sociiety!

Amazing delivery service, but shippers be careful, we got it with a small torn on the side of the cover, try to wrap it up... the book is amazing, great and oversize pictures... a great gift idea for the price.

Amazing pictures...seen from the sky. Wonderful text too. The author will send a "plaque" (sticker) of his signature and greeting to place in the book if you contact him.

I love this book. I hated the price, sorry, very expensive but I love the pictures. Ann