One of the first TV series I ever worked on was The Straits – a unique Australian drama filmed in Cairns, the Torres Strait Islands and other locations in North Queensland. Shot over three months in late 2011, it first screened back in early 2012, but has recently been given a second airing on the ABC. To coincide, I thought I’d share some of the photography stills I captured for the series, which for me, involved thirty or so days on set… learning a lot about TV production and working with some great Aussie talent, behind and in front of the camera.

It’s a gritty, crime drama with and plenty of dark humour, guns, violence, and new & inventive ways to kill your enemies. It was definitely something a little bit different and an experience to shoot, especially any scene where gunfire or explosions were involved. It was also quite a challenge to capture the action and drama, and between breaks in filming, have enough time to create interesting character portraits.

The story follows the Montebello family, whose business involves smuggling drugs into Australia, and guns and exotic wildlife out, via a network of family ties in the Torres Strait. When the head of the family, Harry Montebello, looks to hand over the business to one of his three adopted sons, it sparks a vicious power struggle and all out war with outlaw bikies and Papua New Guinea raskol gangs. It’s based on an idea by Cairns local, Aaron Fao’so who plays Noel Montebello, and was pitched as something like “The Sopranos in thongs”.

You can learn more about the TV series at the ABC site:
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/thestraits/#