Our Team
[team-member name=”Michelle Thomas” title=”Producer and Camera Operator”]
With a MA in Film from Sydney University, majoring in Screenwriting and BA in Media and Journalism, Michelle has gained extensive production experience for over twenty five years in broadcast television, news, documentaries, multi-platform story-telling, music TV, live events, advertising, corporate communications, educational programmes, comedy, drama and sporting broadcasts. With a breadth of experience as Story Producer for in-depth SBS documentaries to senior video producer at Greenpeace International, she has worked here and overseas in international mainstream media, NGO’s, independent production, and for government organisations. She also has broad experience in more independent means of production to bring unbiased, relevant information and entertainment to audiences. In the last 10 years she has independently provided coverage of many pivotal moments and events is environmental and social issues including the activism surrounding the Jabiluka mine, Reclaim the Streets, Critical Mass, antiglobalisation movements against the Melbourne G8 summit and the Sydney Olympics. For productions like these she has worked with and grants and subsidies of non-government organisations and individuals or through channels such as Indy Media, film screenings, online media, community television and radio to “get the message got out there.” She understands all the demands of the newsroom and can make an organisation’s story fit the medium.
As well as working professionally in media production, Michelle is also studying a Bachelor of Arts in Law part-time, also holding a NSW Private Investigator’s (CAPI) license
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[team-member name=”Derek Pascoe ” title=” Director of Photography/ Editing Manager”]
Derek has over twenty years’ television experience as a cameraman, director and editor and has worked all over the world for organizations such as ABC (Australia) NBC (America) Reuters and Greenpeace. Based in the UK for Reuters he covered the lengthy conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Now based back in Sydney he undertakes work for both corporate clients and NGOs. His work includes documentary, reality TV, and training videos. Derek has worked on location all over the world, including Japan, the Philippines, USA, UK and Australia’s far north. He has specialist skills in filming underwater – he has worked in a shark cage to film great whites, and also captured the unique beauty of coral reefs.
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[team-member name=”Dean Sewell” title=”Photojournalist”]
Dean Sewell is a multi-award-winning news photographer who works with a strict commitment to documentary story-telling, under the camera’s “un-flinching gaze”. He was awarded 1st Prize, Spot News Stories category of the World Press Photo Awards for his work on the Tsunami aftermath in Aceh, Indonesia in 2005. Dean’s photo “A Dry Argument”, highlighting the ongoing drought in Australia, won the 2009 Moran Photographic Prize. In 2002 and 2000 Sewell won World Press Photo awards for his work on the Australian Bushfires and East Timor respectively. His series on “The Block” in Aboriginal Redfern and coverage of the Sydney Bushfire Crisis of 2001 were showcased at the prestigious Visa Pour L’Image Festival of Photojournalism in Perpignan, France. In 2001 Sewell co-founded the Australian Photographic Collective ‘Oculi’. Annually from 2000-2005 Sewell’s work was screened at “Reportage”- Australia’s Leading Festival of Photojournalism. Sewell was awarded Australian Press Photographer of the Year in 1998 and 1994. In 1999 he covered the lead-up to the East Timor elections and its violent aftermath. In 1996 Sewell was based in Moscow where he covered the Russian federal elections, the Chechen war and other social issues. Sewell’s work is regularly exhibited in leading Australian and International Galleries and his works are held in private collections. In 2005 and 2008, Sewell was awarded an “Artist Residency” by Bathurst Regional Art Gallery in the remote historical gold-mining village of Hill End in NSW, Australia.
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[team-member name=”Marcus Sainsbury” title=”Environmental Assessement and Research”]
Marcus is experienced in making assessments of environmental impacts of human activity. He has an acute sense for relevant environmental issues in any given situation and he can respond to issues quickly, with sound scientific assessment of the incident. He has worked on major infrastructure projects like gas pipelines, roads and sensitive water infrastructure developments. Based in Sydney, he works on environmental assessments and approvals – he has a strong understanding of planning and legislation. Marcus has recently been appointed as an environmental expert on the Warringah Development Assessment Panel, one of Australia’s first independent assessment panels. He is a rigorous and fiercely independent expert on how to protect and work in harmony with our natural environment.
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[team-member name=”Brad Edge” title=”Logistician”]
Brad is an experienced logistical manager having coordinated numerous expeditions to remote locations around the world. As coordinator of logistics, Brad works with various media and nongovernment organisations to document, research and co-ordinate activities in order to document impacts in any country that is required. Brad is also the Vice Chair of the Gareth Ivory Foundation an organisation that primarily aims to source and generate revenue that can support local initiatives in the Australian and Asia Pacific region, particularly focusing on the areas of health, education and environmental sustainability. Working with Greenpeace International, Brad has managed boat training for New Zealand and Australia Pacific and also coordinated research and logistics which included activities and documentation in Carterets Islands, Western provence Papua New Guinea, Europe, Asia and the Pacific.
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[team-member name=”Rebecca Short” title=”Writer / Project Manager”]
Rebecca Short is a writer and communicator who can untangle seemingly tough or obscure concepts. She works to share knowledge between people, so they can make better, more sustainable decisions. She has previously done communications strategy work in NSW State Government and Parsons Brinkerhoff, an international infrastructure group. As a freelancer she has worked with international NGOs like Greenpeace International, WWF, and Aids Accountability International. On the business side she has done projects with energy service companies, carbon traders, the propertysector, sustainability consultants, plus several government agencies. Rebecca has a degree in ecology and more than ten years experience communicating with all levels of audiences including our elected representatives, people from industry and business, as well as ordinary householders and community members. Ultimately, she wants to see vested interests surpassed to solve our biggest environmental crises.
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