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<v Cameraman>Okay.</v>
(claps)

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<v ->Alright, clapperboard!</v>

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<v ->Yeah.</v>
<v ->Yeah, think.</v>

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And so you're rolling aren't you?

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(soft music)

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<v ->So, I guess we should talk about the photo,</v>

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and the photo's called Jon.

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<v Jon>Yeah, the photo is called Jon.</v>

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<v Ian>It's interesting because you're, you'd be recognised</v>

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as one of Australia's greatest adventurers and explorers,

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both living and dead.

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You happen to be living,
<v ->Oh yeah (laughs).</v>

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<v Ian>But and that's a rarity in this game.</v>

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But you know, you're a very private figure yet

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certainly in climbing circles and adventure circles,

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you know, you're seen as a bit of a

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guru or God in that area.

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What does it feel like when you walk in

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and you see your portrait hanging on the wall

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of the National Portrait Gallery?

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<v ->Yeah, look, it's almost comical.</v>

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(laughing)

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Yeah, I get some mixture of emotions but, but

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maybe overriding it all with

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the comic.

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<v Ian>Yeah</v>
<v ->Because I don't, that's not,</v>

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I am simple man,

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and so, I just get out there and do my simple things.

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And climbing a mountain or walking across the desert,

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it's raw and simple and basic,

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and it sort of brings it home to me that (mumbles),

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and then I read the bio.

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Yeah, yeah I did do all that stuff, didn't I?

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Yeah (laughs) I'm sort of more focused on,

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<v ->Yeah.</v>

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<v ->I've got to plant more potatoes next week.</v>

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<v Jon>Jon here, yep it is.</v>

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And I just like to say it's outrageous up on this glacier--

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<v Ian>We've made two documentaries together,</v>

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where we've co-directed.
<v ->Yeah.</v>

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<v Ian>so we first met when we were climbing Aconcagua,</v>

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in South America and that was...

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<v John>Summer three, four.</v>

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<v Jon and Ian>'93, '94</v>

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<v ->And then we've done a lot of walks together,</v>

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out in the desert and pedalled.

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<v Jon>Kayaking.</v>
<v ->Kayaking.</v>

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and walked across dry salt lakes and all of that.

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And this actually was a dry salt lake.

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<v ->Yeah.</v>
<v ->It was Lake Amadeus.</v>

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And we've been walking from Kings Canyon to Uluru.

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And so we've been, I guess we've been out there

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about a week haven't we?
<v ->Yeah, yeah.</v>

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And that was that, that I love the way that eventuated was

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the salt lakes.

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It's just such magic places.

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And we arrived and we had the cross this lake,

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and it was about 15 kilometres across.

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It's a very long lake but,

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and we arrived in the middle of the day, remember that?

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<v Ian>Yeah.</v>
<v ->And we,</v>

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from previous experience we knew how

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surreal these places are and we also knew as a full moon

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rising that night.

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So we thought, "let's stop here and have a main meal

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lunchtime and have a rest,

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and then head out onto the lake."

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<v Ian>There's something really special about walking</v>

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across dry salt lakes.

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And we've done a number of them there.

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Remember when we walked across Lake Frome,

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and we could see nothing.

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And we all thought it was like what it must be Antarctica.

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And we're calling the salt, the ice.

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<v ->Yes.</v>

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<v ->And that was,</v>

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that was that feeling we got out and

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we just suddenly felt so free.

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You we're not going to bump into a single thing.

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But it was winter, and you know, as, with

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my documentary-filmmaker hat on,

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I knew that it was going to be,

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a magical hour.

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Taking that, that I've probably taken three or four or

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five photos but the second I took that photo,

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I knew I'd captured something pretty special.

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And you know, we call the truth but that was,

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that was your truth.

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You were there and that was you, in your zone,

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when you're absolutely at your happiest.

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<v ->Yeah.</v>
<v ->And there was something</v>

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so magical taking it,

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I just went," I've got it!".

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I remember even showing you,

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I said "I've never taken a photo like this, of you."

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and there's so many that I think captured it but

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that was just that moment.

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<v Jon>Yeah.</v>
<v ->Just this,</v>

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bomb went off in my head.
<v ->Yeah.</v>

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<v Ian>It was just so exciting.</v>

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<v Jon>I know I got really charged,</v>

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energised,

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by the beauty around us, by that raw,

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unpeopled.

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No evidence of anyone except us,

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there,

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on the whole walk I didn't think we saw any but

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yeah, so yeah, you're right.

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I was totally, totally in my favourite place to be (laughs).

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<v ->One of the things that is interesting when people are</v>

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looking at it too,

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and wouldn't have been conscious is,

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you know, because we're spending so much time in the sun,

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we've always used to put a lot of zinc cream on.

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And for you, sometimes you put pink on,

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sometimes it's yellow or orange.

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<v Jon>Yeah.</v>

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<v Ian>But that day you just happen to put on this colour,</v>

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and you're just you're just blending in and, and

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some may think that was forced.

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But it was just, you know,

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you put it on earlier that morning,

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<v ->Yeah</v>
<v ->we didn't know where</v>

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we were gonna be.

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<v ->Yeah</v>
<v ->And we hadn't seen</v>

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that colour, until that moment that night.

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<v ->Yeah</v>
<v ->Shades of it.</v>

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I thought that was quite interesting too.

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In many ways that photo sort of shows you

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at one with the environment.

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'Cause you've almost just melted into it, or camouflaged.

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<v ->Yes</v>
<v ->And that's,</v>

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that's what you were,

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and I think that was a big observation when

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when we made that film together, you know.

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You were out there solo for 128 days.

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And it was just you, just melting into the environment,

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no-one knew where you were, what you were doing.

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<v Jon>Yeah, and it was delicious.</v>

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<v ->The first time it had been seen publicly was</v>

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in the National Portrait Gallery's photo prize.

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<v Jon>Yes.</v>

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<v ->And I think that was 2008 or nine or something.</v>

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<v ->Yeah, yeah.</v>

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<v Ian>And there's sort of sometimes you know,</v>

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photographer's vanity going,

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"Oh I'll have to have a huge photo."

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but this needed to show that the scale,

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sort of you but the enormity of the landscape and

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I sort of felt that night,

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you were bigger than the landscape.

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<v Jon>Right.</v>
<v ->and to reflect that,</v>

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you know
<v ->Yeah</v>

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it a needed,

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needed a sense of scale.
<v ->Yeah, right.</v>

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I mean, in that situation, I just feel so,

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I feel
<v ->so, complete the opposite.</v>

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<v ->Not, not smaller but just this small part of the,</v>

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the big, the big whole.

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<v Ian>Yeah.</v>

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<v ->And when I'm in nature, and in the wild,</v>

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that's, that's one of the things I go out there for,

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is that incredible, strong sense of that.

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As I said earlier, it's where my heart and soul

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are most satisfied, just out in the wild.