random footprints

Damian is passionate about filmmaking, adventure and the environment. Over the last 20 years he has traveled with a camera through the Australian alps, the Andes, the Cambodia/Laos border, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia and New Zealand while producing for SBS, ABC, Lonely Planet.  Damian is most happy far away from civilisation with something exciting to capture on film. In his’s latest film Strangers in the Forest of Taboos the Random Footprints team trek deep into the Indonesian jungle and attempt to extricate themselves without succumbing to exhaustion, flash floods, poison arrow-toting hunters or rancid deer meat. 

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Damian is currently documenting his attempts to create a love of the outdoors in his two daughters in the LITTLE FOOTPRINTS blog.

Filmographer

Pat grew up on a farm in north east Victoria. As a kid he was pack-horsing, hiking and skiing over the Australian alps. Pat has maintained a love of the bush and has explored all around Australia and into Indonesia and South East Asia. Pat is a keen but sporadic climber who always enjoys the moment of recognition when he realises his strength and skills are woefully insufficient for the route in hand. Pat works as an environmental scientist, recently moving from Darwin back to the eastern states. Pat is married and has two daughters under four. He tries to steer a bike up and down steep hills when he can.  He similarly  flails a fishing rod if time permits and works hard to get out on alpine expeditions whenever possible, which is a bit less frequently than he likes. Pat may be the innocent abroad, but is the primary route planner and is the bloke who ties the important knots.

The innocent Abroad

Michael travels backwards and forwards between his sheep farm in the foothills of the Australian great divide and the Asia Pacific region where he works in international development and humanitarian response. He is happiest when chewing betel nut somewhere high in the hills of an island paradise, and learning about the local customs, beliefs and somewhat randomly, the local names for dog, chicken, milk and the number 5, which he can recite in more than 20 Austronesian languages. Since boyhood he has been involved in outdoor adventure, has traversed much of the Australian alps and outback as well as undertaken some epic adventures in Nepal, Indonesia and Timor Leste. He remains sceptical of his travelling colleagues constant quest for “good gear” but perseveres in the spirit of expedition.

Cultural Attaché

Once described as the “resident grouch, enduring the highs and lows of the adventure with a certain world weariness”, Marcus brings the steady perspective to the team. An environment and climate change specialist, his travels have seen him travelling throughout the Pacific, Asia and the Subcontinent, including a 4660m sojourn on glaciers above Lijiang, China looking at water security in the face of climate change. He is the resident gypsy, married with children. Skilled, or at least experienced in the bush and remote environments, Marcus’ beard and sober demeanor also make him the understudy to Schultz as the arbiter of cultural appropriateness, and first contact protocols. His scientific rigour and cautious optimism rounds the strangers out.

Resident Gypsy