Wollongong photographer Warren Keelan takes on Kokoda and Microsoft screen-savers

Warren Keelan endured a tough 12 months of personal and physical challenges that pushed his mind to a dark place, but 2023 has sent him soaring with elation.

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In February, Keelan was called upon by the Barstool Brothers mental health charity to trek with their group of guys along the Kokoda trail. The catch was he had to hold a film camera plus all his gear along the way.

"It was the most gruelling, hardest, toughest, physical and emotional, spiritual thing I've ever done in my life," he told the Mercury.

"But it was equally as rewarding and yeah, it was astonishing. To be able to carry a film camera through that entire nine days and document everybody's journey was just an absolute privilege."

When Keelan spoke with the Mercury about his feat, he was "still floating" despite the gruelling hours spent walking uphill in the rain and the mud, plus the isolation throughout the harrowing journey.

Wandering along the historic Papua New Guinea path, renowned as the location of the World War II battle between Japanese and Australian forces in 1942, had been a dream of the artist's for decades but life just "never lined up".

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Keelan was among a group of around 16 men, many of whom were ex-military, to take on the trek to overcome each of their own personal struggles.

Together with filmmaker Mitch McArdle, the pair documented nine days of literal blood, sweat and tears.

"The mateship was just incredible and everyone had broke down and had moments, but we triumphed at the end, it was just incredible," he said.

"The amount of physical exertion that we experienced over there walking between six to 12 hours straight up and down hills in torrential rain and mud every day, it was just something your body could never train for. And the complete isolation was extremely daunting."

There was no hospital nearby and no medics. If anyone got injured the only way out of the jungle would be via a helicopter. Thankfully the chopper was never called.

The historical trail is well trodden by many, but its maintenance disappeared when the pandemic wiped out tourism, so there was a lot more bush-bashing than expected, according to Keelan.

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"It was in bad condition," he said of the usual 96 kilometre track.

"We actually did over 120 kilometres all up - just through diversion over streams and different ways just to get through."

Keelan said the final film will hopefully inspire men to talk and be vulnerable, "and potentially save lives through us being an example of that".

"Honestly everyone went through their self doubt and, you know, every second night people were just thinking about what they'd done and why they're doing it," he said.

"But once we all crossed that line together, it just all made sense."

Like many men, Keelan doesn't like talking about his mental health. But he admitted the journey was one of the best things he has ever done.

He conquered the quest and felt the rewards far outweighed the pain of going through it, and hopes the film he worked on "gets the conversation going".

Meantime, the incredible rush of accomplishment didn't end there for the photographer.

After many months of back and forth emails with a global tech giant, Keelan returned home from Kokoda to finding a long sought deal come to fruition.

Some of his renowned ocean photographs and Illawarra landscapes had begun popping up on Microsoft computers everywhere.

It meant anyone with a Windows computer will see his work, whether they live in Port Kembla or Portugal.

He said it's still hard to fathom this kind of feeling of success, as even if one per cent of Microsoft users see his images, that's still a heck of a lot of people around the world.

"I've had a pretty crazy year of ups and downs, but to have these things happen ... has put things into perspective for me and has filled my cup."

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