Through the eyes of the condor: in his latest project for the National Geographic Society, photographer Robert Haas spent over two years looking at Latin America from on high, with a view to capturing the region's soul.

• Author: Haas, Robert B.
• Position: Excerpt - Speech

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"I do what I do because I think it's important," explained photographer Robert Haas. "It's important to show people what a stunning home we have here on Earth; it's important to show a world that has only natural boundaries, not political borders; it's important to try to inspire just a few people to care enough to become involved in the struggle we are now in to preserve our home."

Speaking to diplomats and guests assembled in the Hall of the Americas, at the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, DC, Haas talked about how his latest project, Through the Eyes of the Condor, came about--and shared lessons he learned from looking at the big picture. Following are excerpts from his remarks.

For over 25 years, I pursued a series of dreams in business, and then I embarked on another career, as a photographer. In 1994, I purchased my very first Canon camera, at the age of 47, and headed for the wilds of Africa. After a few safaris, my head was swirling with dreams that one day I might actually publish a few of my photos. Then just about five years ago, my aerial work came to the attention of one of the senior executives at the National Geographic Society, and I was invited to do a presentation of my images. That presentation led to a collaboration with National Geographic on a book of aerial photos of Africa, which in turn led to our joint efforts to publish an aerial work of Latin America, culminating with the release of Through the Eyes of the Condor.

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Originally, we started this venture as a three-year project to photograph South America from the air, with the first shoot in the summer of 2005. But then in the fall of 2005, the book division [of National Geographic] suggested that we collapse our three-year timetable for the project into two years. I came back and proposed that we convert this from a South American project to a Latin American project, adding Mexico and a handful of countries from Central America, extending the reach of this work literally from the Rio Grande in the north to the Strait of Magellan at the very doorstep of Antarctica.

We realize that we did not cover literally every single country and every single island territory within the region known as Latin America. This book, subtitled "An Aerial Vision of Latin America," is just that ... a glimpse into Latin America to explore its contours and offer a strong sampling of its majesty, its beauty, and its physical...