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well as the filming, which I love to this day after so many years of doing it. If a project pops up and I think, ‘Wow, I could do a really good job at that,’ I’m keen on it,” he concludes. Daredevil Having shot all over the world, ‘from the North Pole to Tasmania’, Spurdens has his fair share of wild stories, especially given his interest in action filming. He recalls one of his ‘craziest’ ideas, which was to film a BASE jump off an iconic landmark – the Eiffel Tower – illegally. He put out some feelers and got a response from Gary Connery, who is now mainly known for two things: serving as a stunt double for Gary Oldman, Leonardo DiCaprio, Rowan Atkinson and others; and skydiving while dressed as Queen Elizabeth II during the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. The two took a day trip to Paris via the then newly opened Eurostar, with Spurdens describing the whole experience as ‘surreal’. Once atop the Eiffel Tower, Connery – dressed as James Bond – jumped through the centre and hit the pavement. Spurdens captured everything on film. Once he realised that Connery was, while severely injured, going to be alright, he boarded the train back to London, got the film developed at ‘stupid o’clock’ and found he’d perfectly captured the jump – only then deciding not to sell the footage. He explains: “It’s about getting yourself out there, getting yourself among it and not being afraid – that’s what this story is all about.” Helping hand Throughout Spurdens’ career, CVP has been an essential partner in sourcing equipment. After employing RED cine cameras on a couple of early jobs, he thought: “This is it – this has finally reached the quality I desire.” Entering the RED ecosystem, he purchased a KOMODO and a V-RAPTOR, both from CVP. “Buying kit from there, they’ve always been incredibly quick to get what I want. They will go out of their way to get what I need – and at a good price,” Spurdens, now a long-standing CVP customer, describes. “If there’s a technical issue,
LEFT HANGING Spurdens has excelled both as a sports photographer (above) and an aerial camera operator (left)
portray flow state and bring out the necessary emotion.” Spurdens tends to pick the ‘brief moments in peak action’, which he believes are among the most introspective. “I try to create effective storytelling,” he summarises. “It’s about having the confidence to shoot, knowing you will nail the shot – not once but every day you are asked! “When I look back on it, I’ve had a pretty amazing career,” Spurdens concludes. “They say you make your own luck. I don’t know. Sometimes, if you are in the right place at the right time, you can take advantage of certain things that happen – if you have the skills.” While it hasn’t always been easy money, Spurdens says he wouldn’t trade his job for the world. “You do it because you have a passion for it and it lights your fire. Do a job you like doing and you’re not really at work.”
or if there’s something on a new camera I need to understand, then their technical staff are brilliant as well.” As a do-it-yourself filmmaker, Spurdens has a whole range of kit, from lights to batteries to lenses. He alternates between ZEISS CP.3s and Canon glass, touting its 100-500mm super-telephoto as a superb choice for surfing, skiing and other activities which constantly require a new composition. Life in slow motion After two decades of action filmmaking, Spurdens has settled into a new groove: slow motion. “It’s the flow state of the filming world,” he begins. “It’s all about knowing, in your mind’s eye, how to use elongated time to tell a story – not as an afterthought, not just slowing time for slow motion’s sake, but to effectively
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