Russell Ord is a surf photgrapher from Cowaramup, Western Australia. He's a photographer that specialises in heavy water and his photos of heaving local reefs are seen around the world. Russ recently worked on Drift, the new film set in Margaret River during the early ‘70s that tells the story of two brothers at the genesis of the modern surf industry. 

Swellnet: What was your role on the set of Drift? Russell Ord: I was hired as the unit photographer. Which means shooting what the camera sees really.

Stills? Yeah, a unit stills photographer.

You've been involved in the surf scenes? Yeah, I've been shooting it all.

It was a pretty good winter over there by all reports, how'd the filming go? They've had heaps of swell. They've been really very lucky, they've had some great days and no crowds.

What are some of the standout sessions that you've caught on film? Leif Mulick getting towed into 20 foot Cow Bombie. Tom Inness...some of his sessions have been amazing. The first day he was surfing too good. He was blowing the fins, or fin – it was a single fin – out the back while the crew were standing back going 'Shit, how good's this guy?' They had to pull him up and go 'Settle down mate, this is the 70s. You're blowing the back out of every wave.'

Tom doubles for Myles [Pollard], and then there's Shaun Green, he's a young surfer from here who's doubling for Xavier [Samuels], and he's been surfing really good. He got right into the style from back in the day.

How did the work differ from your usual photography? It's very different. You've got to try to get the shot that the publicist wants to send off not the shot that me as a surf photographer wants. The first week I was shooting stuff that was amazing to me, these beautiful old boards or whatever, and I'd have the main actors in the top right hand corner, you know? I got pulled up there pretty quick.

The actors have to be front and centre and surprisingly that took a while to learn. I had another unit photographer who'd been doing it for years and I saw some of his shots and realised I had to change my style a little bit.

How has Drift been received by the locals? Oh, it's been good. Everyone's been stoked on it. Well, there's been the occasional grouch, but it's great for the town. They've been filming all over. They closed off the carpark at North Point at one stage. They asked people nicely to give them half an hour and everyone was really good about it.

They've had some great sessions too. Some real good tow sessions.

How do they have tow sessions if it's recreating the 70s? I haven't seen the cut but they have the main actors surfing as well, not just the doubles. They've whipped in the main actors for a couple of scenes so they don't take the drop. Xavier got whipped into a six foot wave at Marges Bomby – a heavy wave – and got wiped across the reef. We were all laughing a bit, at least after we realised he was OK. They were all having a dig.

Myles Pollard can surf, he's pretty good.

Has there been many locals hired on the film? Oh yeah, so many. They've got Rick Jacovich and Rick Rificci doing the cinematography in the water, and they're local guys and also some of the best watermen in the world. All the extras are locals. Like every man and his dog, literally, are getting roles. The whole town's been in it, well it feels like that.

It'll be unreal when the movie shows here in Margs, it'll be a blockbuster. It'll be good to see who makes the cut. People's old cars are being hired, old caravans are being hauled out and used. It's pretty cool.

Gonna be a big night in Marges? It'll be huge. There's been a lot of crew involved so that's been great.

Read an interview with surfing stunt double, Tom Innes. Read Swellnet's review of Drift.