From a young age, Michael Pignataro had a passion for filming - whether it be filming his friends on their BMX bikes, to filming them playing cricket with a video camera he bought in 1984, he would film anything and everything.

Filming anything is an ideology that Mr Pignataro has taken with him into his adult life.

Starting as a chef, Mr Pignataro was great at cooking, but his true passions lay elsewhere.

After making the jump from cooking up meals to cooking up films, Mr Pignataro knew he wanted to stay in his regional area of the Shoalhaven and tell the stories of his home community.

"I love telling those community stories and giving people a voice," Mr Pignataro said.

"That's why I've filmed what I've filmed."

After gaining employment at the WIN Network in the Illawarra, Mr Pignataro put his passion of filming stories into action.

Having now filmed various political documentaries from 'The Battle for Kiama' and 'Loyalty and Leaks: The Untold Gilmore Story', Mr Pignataro has most recently used his talents and passion to create the mini-series 'Living on the Coast: Shoalhaven Recovers'.

Michael wanted to film this series to show viewers the Shoalhaven beyond flames and mayhem.

"This series was made to show people how the Shoalhaven really is and to show the people who live in this area," he said.

"Making stories with WIN News is great, but you can only tell so much of a story with news packages.

"I wanted to tell that story about what we were going through down here without all the flames and mayhem but looking at the community and showing the people that make up this community."

The three part series has been viewed by half a million people according to Mr Pignataro and was run on the 9 Network in Capital cities as well as regional areas.

The success has prompted Mr Pignataro to create a series two, which is currently in its planning phase.

While series one had a focus on the recovery of the Shoalhaven post fires and the community, series two will be something different.

"The next series is going to be something completely different," Mr Pignataro said.

"I'm not sure what or how, but it will.

"I want to expand it and film areas outside of the Shoalhaven too."

Like his previous films, Mr Pignataro will start filming without a specific plan.

In the case of his political mini documentary 'Loyalty and Leaks: The Untold Story of Gilmore", which aired in 2020, Mr Pignataro was filming in 2016 with no idea what he was making.

"I had no idea what I was filming, but I was just filming everything," he said.

"As a cameraman, you film everything that walks, eats and breaths and you never know what is going to come out of it."

It wasn't until 2019 when the film finally started that Michael knew what the film was going to be.

"As soon as Warren Mundine was parachuted into the 2019 Gilmore election, that's when I knew what this film was," he said.

"I started going back looking at interviews I filmed in 2016 and it all started coming together."

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The documentary series was a hit and gave Mr Pignataro a leg to stand behind when he pitched the idea of 'Living on the Coast: Shoalhaven Recovers'.

The recent series had a 12 month turnaround, which included a six month wait for the pitch to be approved followed by six months of filming, interviewing and editing.

"I would work during the day for WIN News and spend my weekends and nights making 'Living on the Coast'", Mr Pignataro said.

"I had no breaks, very little sleep, but I love what I do."

Mr Pignataro said for people who wanted to get into filming like him, the most important thing was to be persistent and never give up.

"Keep coming up with ideas and just keep filming things," he said.

"My first projects were short films, wedding videos, just getting myself around the area and out shooting things.

"I started dabbling in little documentaries and eventually it all just happened for me."

Mr Pignataro thanked his workplace for their support and said he would not have been able to explore his passion if it were not for them.

"I would not have been able to do what I'm doing without regional television and working in a regional newsroom," he said.

"Regional television and regional news is a really good way to get started."

The new series which will simply be known as 'Living on the Coast' is currently in its planning phase and will film soon.

'Living on the Coast: Shoalhaven Recovers' can be viewed here and 'Loyalty and Leaks: The Untold Story of Gilmore' can be viewed here.