A Very Beautiful Photo Book by Prince Hussain Aga Khan at a Very Special Price: The Hardback Edition of “Animal Voyage”

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A collage of photos from Prince Hussain Aga Khan's "Animal Voyage" with an excerpt from a review by John MacDonald, an Ottawa based freelance photographer. Image: Designed by Simerg.

A collage of photos from Prince Hussain Aga Khan’s “Animal Voyage” with an excerpt from a review by John MacDonald, an Ottawa based freelance photographer. Image: Designed by Simerg.

“Animal Voyage” by Prince Hussain Aga Khan, originally available as a paperback, has been re-introduced as a hardback edition. Both Simergphotos.com and its companion literary blog Simerg.com are delighted to offer this absolutely magnificent pictorial book of animal photos taken by Prince Hussain Aga Khan at a special price of $25.00 US/Canadian + taxes and shipping. Note that all proceeds of the sale of the book will be distributed to the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Fund for the Environment.

Front cover of "Animal Voyage" by Hussain Aga Khan.

Front cover of “Animal Voyage” by Hussain Aga Khan.

ACQUIRING “ANIMAL VOYAGE”

The book may be ordered as follows:

1. By Paypal – To purchase the book via Paypal, please send an email to Simergbooks@aol.com and specify the number of copies you wish to order. You will be sent a PayPal invoice via email that will include shipping charges to your destination as well as any applicable taxes. Shipping in North America will be via Canada Post’s Express Parcel Service (delivery time 7-10 days). Please follow PayPal instructions to pay via a credit card or your bank account. Paypal registration is very simple, and there is no charge to you for using the service. Simergbooks is  PayPal verified.

2. Cheques/Money Orders (for US Orders and Canadian Orders)

Please send an email to simergbooks@aol.com to confirm product availability or to reserve a copy. You will be advised about the total cost of the book ($25.00 + shipping and applicable taxes) and your order will be shipped once your cheque/money order has been received. Shipping in North America will be via Canada Post’s Express Parcel Service (delivery time 7-10 days).

Gift Card

If you wish to give the book as a gift to someone, we will include a gift card with your message at no extra cost.

PHOTOS FROM “ANIMAL VOYAGE” with EXCERPTS FROM A REVIEW
OF THE BOOK BY JOHN W. MACDONALD

Giraffes in the Mara. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

Giraffes in the Mara, Kenya. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

Prince Hussain Aga Khan, in his second photo book of the same name, Animal Voyage: Travels 1996 – 2007, has further refined the original photographic edit and improved the quality of the images on the printed page. Animal Voyage (editions de l’oeil, 128 pages) is a collection of travel photographs of various animals taken over a decade and from twenty-five countries.

Resting Dragonfly. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan.

Resting Dragonfly, Perinet, Madagascar. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

The updated photo book is more than a selection of typical landmark images of travels but is a printed record with his particular eleven year documentary vision. For example, from his visit to Uluru (Ayers Rock) we do not see a photo of the famous large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory in Australia but instead he depicts a silhouetted Crested Pigeon mingling among chair legs on a brick terrace.

Tree Buttresses. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

Tree Buttresses, Costa Rica. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

Throughout the book we are brought along to various exotic destinations with Hussain. We are his travelling companion on his many journeys and are a virtual witness to what he sees as important to record, which is the photographic evidence of many endangered species. From the inside front cover we know that the proceeds from the sale of the book will be distributed to the Prince Sadruddin Aga Fund for the Environment.

 Dancing Verreaux Sifaka. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

Dancing Verreaux Sifaka, Berenty, Madagascar. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

Throughout Animal Voyage there is not so much information presented to overload the reader, like being sapped of energy from all the travel, that you can sense the peaceful nature of humid days in Madagascar photographing tree frogs, chameleons and lemurs, or be taken on a fantastic tour of the Serengeti and be close up to all the traditional game animals you might see.

Octopus. Photo: Prince Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

Octopus out of water, Sardinia. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

Although Hussain does his best to present the essence of the animal in their environment, he does it with a flare to present their natural habitats: birds in flight, lemurs leaping, lions lounging, and zebras grazing in the wilderness….Animal Voyage is a wonderful book with vivid colour photographs which are edited and well sequenced not by a mere hobby travel photographer but a photographer with a sincere and noble goal of preserving nature around the world. Not an easy task to do.

Sea Lions, Kangaroo Island, Australia. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

Sea Lions, Kangaroo Island, Australia. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

Whatever the country that Hussain visited in his book initially looks familiar, but upon closer examination, it is a location representing not a vision of the past but of the present, and of a future worthy of salvage. Hussain, both the passionate and compassionate photographer, acts as a curator gathering portraits of animals and fauna most of which have the common source of being the image of the animal in situ.

Iguanas in the trees. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

Iguanas in the trees, Hato Cedral, Venezuela.. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

Ranging from closely cropped photos to vast landscapes, these global vignettes from his travels keep us thinking of the many delicate and harsh environments and ecosystems on the edge. They comprise a singular story of images of capturing the animal in their element while revealing a possibility of a darker future without them.

Mother and baby in the caves near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

Mother and baby in the caves near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Hussain Aga Khan. Copyright.

For Hussain Aga Khan, each of these photographs is an appeal to the tenderness of the wilderness that guides his sensitivity, his desire to be one with nature. The animals return his gaze as if in answer to this appeal: they know, they are waiting, they are watching over his love for the world.

Date posted: Sunday, March 30, 2014

Photos/Text: Copyright. Prince Hussain Aga Khan/Simerg.

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BUY ANIMAL VOYAGE AT A SPECIAL PRICE

Do  not miss out on this opportunity to buy this wonderful hardback photo book by Prince Hussain Aga Khan at the special price of $25.00 (plus postage and taxes). Place your order by sending an email to Simergbooks@aol.com.

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