Pat and Rosemarie Keough of Salt Spring Island, B.C. have created a most unusual art book, simply called Antarctica. It is the culmination of almost a decade of passionate research and effort: the study of ancient techniques of book binding and the most modern printing methods, two austral summers of adventuring and photography in Antarctica, and another couple of years spent in the writing, book design and production. The first copies of this limited edition of 1,000 books were released in early 2002 to great acclaim. The price is US$2,900. (The Keoughs’ web site is: www.keough-art.com).
What is your background to travel/exploration/photography? We are both Fellows of The Explorers Club and have been exploring and photographing remote wilderness throughout our adult lives. Before our marriage we were amateur photographers. During our honeymoon, while living in an abandoned tree-hut in the wilds of the Ghat Mountains of southern India, the hut surrounded by a dry moat so that the elephants couldn’t knock it over, we decided that we rather enjoyed this lifestyle - being together out in nature. It was then, back in 1985, that we decided to leave our corporate careers and use our skills as photographers for a living. Not knowing anything about publishing, we determined that we would create books featuring our images.
When and how did you get involved with your first book? Immediately upon our return from India and Malaysia we set about finding a way to publish our photography. We wrote stories for news-papers accompanied by our images, helped produce a few television shows, and set about finding out how to create “The Ottawa Valley Portfolio” - our first coffee-table art book. We were living on an island in the Ottawa River at the time, and we knew that there was no other photo book about the Valley. We first approached a number of Canada’s prominent publishers, who quite honestly told us that their programs precluded investing so much capital in any one project as would be necessary for the book we envisioned. Being stubborn, we became publishers ourselves. Two years later, just a month ahead of the birth of our daughter Rebekka, this self-published $65 book was released and soon became a Canadian best-seller, 20,000 copies of which are in people’s homes and libraries. To date we’ve produced seven books featuring our photography ... and we also have a delightful son Glen.
How did the Antarctica book come about? Early in the 1990s when we relocated to British Columbia, we both desired an artistic challenge, also a means to leverage our talents and capital to assist certain worthy social and environmental causes. We conceptualized an entirely new series of books that would be “objets d’art” onto themselves, even if the pages were completely blank. We dedicated this past decade to researching how to create the world’s highest quality books, also to taking photos in several very special parts of the world. During an expedition to the Antarctic we met some key environmentalists involved with seabird conservation who convinced us of the imperative need to assist the albatrosses, majestic birds whose populations have plummetted dramatically, primarily due to bycatch by long-line fishermen. We decided to progress with ANTARCTICA as the inaugural volume in our “Explorer Series” of luxurious limited-edition books and that we would pledge all profits to BirdLife International’s Save the Albatross Campaign.
How did you get around to the Antarctic locations? We spent two austral summers in the Antarctic, the second summer accompanied by Glen, who at that time was 7 years old. Rebekka declined the opportunity, for she needed to continue her studies in Canada. From Tasmania we accessed Victoria Land, the Ross Sea, McMurdo Sound, The Dry Valleys, the Bay of Whales, Franklin Island, the Ballenies, and so many other islands via icebreaker. We often climbed down a ramp from the ship directly onto the sea ice and then walked to shore. Other times we flew by helicopter to inland destinations and then went hiking - with tripod, 50-pound packs, and often a heavy beanbag as well. From Punta Arenas, Chile we flew by Ilyushin aircraft into Ellsworth Land and camped out at the Patriot Hills Base. Journeys were made on foot, ski, snowmobile, Cessna, and Twin Otter to nearby hills and frozen pools, also to Vinson Massif and Mt. Tyree, and far across to Berkner Island in the Weddell Sea and onward to the Dawson Lambton Glacier in Coats Land. We tossed about the Drake Strait more often then we wish to recall. Over the two years we voyaged with many ships in the company of adventure tourists, mountain climbers and scientists. On the west side of the Peninsula we landed on nearly every headland and island along the Bransfield Strait, through the Gerlache, south to Crystal Sound and onward into Marguerite Bay and the abandoned U.S. and British bases on Stonington Island. Interestingly just last week we were speaking with Edith (Jackie) Ronne, for whom the Ronne Ice Shelf was named by her husband, Captain Finn Ronne. Jackie lived for a year in the hut on Stonington Island, and the men made dogsled and aerial surveys of the Peninsula. On the east side of the Peninsula we frequently travelled in the Weddell Sea, visiting such islands as Paulet, Beak, Devil, Seymour and Vega. Sometimes the weather was with us and we were able to land and photograph several of the South Shetland and South Orkney Islands, and of course South Georgia. For the most part, a cabin on a vessel was our home and we were able to move from place to place. The boiler room was a handy place to dry Glen’s outer clothing! Other times we were camped out in tents on the continent itself and relied on aircraft and skis to get about. Here the air was so dry and cold that nothing got damp.
You’ve been all around Antarctica for this edition. Is there anyplace there where you didn’t get the chance to go and where would you like to go back or to see if not yet visited? There is much of Antarctica which we would enjoy experiencing. It’s a huge continent - 1 1/2 times the size of the United States. It would take several lifetimes to see it all. One day we’d like to tour East Antarctica from Commonwealth Bay around to the Weddell Sea. Also, Glen has expressed a real interest to visit Lake Vostok. That would be intriguing!
Do you have any particular experiences that stand out? There are so very many experiences. Here are a few excerpts from the text we wrote for ANTARCTICA.
“We pitched our tents at the base of the towering ice-cliffs of the Dawson-Lambton Glacier on the frozen Weddell Sea near an emperor penguin colony of some 4,000 breeding pairs. Although the sun seemed to stay the same distance above the horizon as it circled about the sky, we found the night hours to have a gentler quality of light that was more conducive to photography. We hiked to the emperors, towing a sled full of camera equipment while listening to the melodious clamour of demanding chicks blended with the sonorous chords of the adults. By choice we lay prone on the sea ice adjacent to the rookery, hour upon hour, our eyes ever watchful. Our bodies slowly stiffened with the inevitable chill that comes of being motionless in such an environment. The penguins crowded forward to closely observe the observers, especially the chicks, which came so near that a few words were necessary to move them back. There is humour in the appearance of these curious, young birds with their distended bellies. Their parents feed them regurgitated fish and squid caught far to sea at remarkable depths of 450 metres and more.”
“Leaving the ice, we jump across tidal cracks onto the snow-covered shore of Cape Evans, Ross Island. Below Windvane Hill stands Scott’s 1911 Terra Nova hut, a wooden structure with boards bleached by summer sun and blasted year-round by winds that carry scouring sand and crystalline snow. Except that this hut is here in Antarctica, it is visually rather unremarkable _ until one opens the door and glimpses within. To step inside is to step back in time. Immediately we are hit by a strong, pungent smell of smoke, burned seal blubber, grime and unwashed bodies that permeates all. The odour is not unpleasant; it is comforting and speaks of men and life during the Heroic era. Coal and blubber fueled their stoves for warmth and cooking, also for melting snow and ice _ water for drinking and washing being otherwise non-existent. Soot darkens the walls. As our eyes adjust to the dim interior we recognize the setting so familiar from old photographs by Herbert Ponting. There before us in the centre of the hut is the famous wardroom table where Scott and his men shared meals, debates, celebrations, plans and dreams of attaining the South Pole: an ill-fated expedition that would cost Scott and four companions their lives. Today, the presence of these men remains very real. They have left their personal possessions, scientific equipment and supplies lying about. An intriguing assortment of Edwardian provisions fills the galley shelves _ tins of preserved cabbage, kale, haddock and roast mutton, bottles of pickled onions, gooseberry jam and corn syrup, cases of flour and cocoa. In the annex they stashed a box of Adélie penguin eggs packed in straw, fresh omelets being much appreciated, the straw having been brought for Scott’s ponies. Except for the aged look of these eggs and the yellowing labels and rust on the tins, we can easily imagine that Scott, Oates, Wilson, Evans, Bowers, Cherry-Garrard and the others had just momentarily stepped out, there being no dust or cobwebs to indicate the passage of time.”
“Enveloped by the fetid odour of whale breath, we sit quietly in the Zodiac, eagerly craning our necks and trying to anticipate where the minkes will next appear. We watch their air bubbles rising through the water to burst at the surface. A pink cloud of krill-stained excrement spreads outward. They are just beneath. We watch and listen. The minke is such a small whale, averaging eight metres in length, that once you hear the blow, it is almost too late to swing the camera and aim.”
Being photographers, it is the quality of the Antarctic light that appeals to us greatly. Here’s one of the last paragraphs from the text, referencing this light.
“We have been asked if a single incident or place stands out as being most memorable. Although difficult to answer, perhaps there is _ a magnificent evening in Crystal Sound on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula. While sailing south down the coast of Graham Land, a long afternoon was spent battling katabatic winds followed by a flat calm. Our ship drifted in Hanusse Bay at the southern end of the sound. To the east, glaciers spilled from the rugged Arrowsmith Peninsula to terminate in gleaming cliffs of ice at water’s edge. In all other directions were numerous ice-capped islands. The tranquil bay was full of icebergs, bergy bits and growlers. Throughout the lingering sunset the sky was suffused with an intense orange. The water reflected gold and the bergs were a deep-marine blue _ and this was only the beginning. Over the following hours the sky graduated through subtle shades of red to mauve while slight currents and breezes rippled the water, creating bands of apricot and scarlet. Slowly, the floating ice lightened to royal blue and eventually to white. This visual feast was enhanced by delightful sounds, which were magnified by the background silence. Shards of ice from disintegrating bergs tinkled and crackled, the latter sound being the release of air trapped within this glacial ice for centuries or millennia. Toward midnight with the mountain slopes luminous under a glorious full moon, we got under way and headed farther south, threading through floes and icebergs in the tight, twisting channel of The Gullet bound for Marguerite Bay. Everyone on board was moved by the splendour of it all and we took numerous pictures.”
What was the highlight(s) of your Antarctic tours and what was the lowest moment? Everyday was another highlight. There’s also a great many little things that stand out, especially family memories. We smile as we reminisce about Glen - brandishing a whale bone like a cutlass to ward off aggressive fur seals; climbing glaciers and reaching his first mountain summit on Lemaire Island outfitted with crampons, ice axe and rope; helping to collect and autopsy dead penguins for scientific research. It was wonderful to share these adventures with Glen. The lowest moment occurred when coming back from the continent through Australia. We were sickened when Quantas airline staff took away our admittedly overweight carry-on bag that contained three months of our exposed films. Another low moment was in Stanley, Falkland Islands when the military airport staff insisted on x-raying our exposed film, several times.
Does being in Canada help or affect the type of publishing that you are doing, from a production as well as marketing point of view? Would it be easier in the States or Europe? We searched the world over to find a production team that would share our obsessive dedication to excellence. Rather surprisingly, the search led us to Canada. Hemlock Printers in British Columbia were beta testing a revolutionary high-resolution printing technique for the Canadian firm Creo. Our tests proved that this new technology was simply stunning and we knew that we had to use it, in spite of the risks. As a result of this decision, ANTARCTICA is the world’s first photographic book to be printed with “10-micron stochastic screening”, which renders a resolution that is three to four times higher than the alternative. ANTARCTICA has won the world’s most prestigious printing award - the Benjamin Franklin, the Oscar of the printing industry - and many other awards.
ANTARCTICA is also being sewn and bound by hand in Ontario by a small team of skilled artisans at Felton Bookbinding. Once again, we were prepared to engage the best bindery regardless of country. While there are several extremely fine binders who do restoration binding of ancient books, others who create one-of-a-kind designer bindings akin to modern art, we needed to find a quality bindery which could hand-bind our 950 books plus 50 proofs in two years or less. Hewit’s tannery in Scotland (one of the world’s three tanneries, which specialize in book leather, an ancient art itself) suggested a number of workshops in the United States and Canada of which three made our short-list. After numerous prototypes, Canadian Keith Felton demonstrated that he was not only a perfectionist steeped in the tradition of fine craftsmanship, but also that he was quite innovative. Over the course of a full year, working with Keith, testing every facet involved with binding, ANTARCTICA is the world’s first book to combine the best attributes of two opposed binding styles previously considered technically incompatible. One style is the incredibly strong and rugged “split board” or “ledger” binding. The other is the “classic European” style which is elegant and refined.
Nothing about the production of ANTARCTICA has been easy. There has been a lot of learning, a lot of effort. To have found such skilled people here in our own country has so many rewards. Recently the International Association of Printing House Craftsmen created a new award to recognize the excellence of our book. The judges of the premier competition wrote: “We honor this team for their towering achievement and are humbled to present the first ever Craft, Art, Science Award for the production of ANTARCTICA.”
How are you planning to market the book? Through an agent, official Antarctic bodies, word of mouth, TV interviews? People are learning of ANTARCTICA from articles such as this, Maclean’s and Forbes, and from various radio and television interviews. Many people are motivated to find our website www.keough-art.com where there is lots of information, also a reservation form. Some of the vessels taking tourists to the Antarctic have our book on board for people to experience. BirdLife International, The Explorers Club and also Friends of Conservation have been selling ANTARCTICA to supporters and members. A handful of retailers are promoting ANTARCTICA. As this book is so very different from anything one can imagine, the marketing is also evolving. For example, ANTARCTICA is part of the America’s Cup Challenge in New Zealand - as there is an affinity between sailing the oceans and albatrosses, also between New Zealand and Antarctica. All in all, it’s the word of mouth that is important, and the momentum is growing with every book sold. Without exception, each person who has obtained ANTARCTICA is absolutely thrilled.
Valmar Kurol
President & Editor
4633 Harvard Avenue
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H4A 2X3
Email: mtl.ant.soc@sympatico.ca
