Chicago Sun-Times

Limited-edition photos of Antarctica, yours for just $2,900
 
Janet Rausa Fuller
July 31, 2003

It's pricey. It's heavy.

But Antarctica, a $2,900, 27-pound tome filled with photographs of the land of icebergs and penguins, is not a coffee table book.

So say its authors, Canadian husband-and-wife photography team Pat and Rosemarie Keough.

"We've done six other normal coffee table art books," Rosemarie Keough said. "The challenge here is to be able to convey what is majestic, what is unusual about a region, but to do it as fine art."

Each book is a limited edition copy being hand-sewn by six master book binders, bound in morocco, fine goat leather, and presented in a linen and velvet box.

Only 950 copies are being produced. Queen Noor of Jordan is autographing each copy. Prince Charles of Britain has a copy.

And then there are the photos: a glacier strait, made hazy by the sun and blowing snow; penguins standing like guards around a memorial cross; a snow algae-covered ice cap, the color of watermelon.

The Keoughs spent two summers in Antarctica--late October to late March--and shot 800 rolls of film, whittling those down to the 340 images that appear in the book.

"It's probably the most otherworldly place on this planet," said Pat Keough.

The book has been 10 years in the making for the Keoughs. They wanted to create an "Explorer" series of "luxurious" books that would appeal to the collector and present images they have captured.

All the proceeds of the sale of the book will go to Birdlife International's Save the Albatross campaign, hence Queen Noor's involvement as a representative. Prince Charles got the first released copy of the book last January at a Save the Albatross reception at St. James' Palace.

"Other people have their forms of philanthropy," Pat Keough said. "This is ours."

About 200 books have been sold. The Keoughs--who are selling the book through selected dealers and on their Web site, www.keough-art.com--plan more books in their "Explorer" series, including one they've tentatively titled Beyond Palm Springs.