James Hurford (aka Hurf) is from a historic commercial fishing family
in west coast Canada ... he was the youngest licenced 350 ton captain
in western Canada and fished over 20 years as captain of his own deep
sea troller for salmon and halibut. He was apprenticed as a marine
metallurgist, which ultimately got him into the biz. building camera
mounts, etc. He has also worked the film biz as a key grip for over 22
years. He used to take every summer off from film making to do his
fishing, but now only concentrates on one or two quality features a
year, his many years of both metal fabrication and film has made him a
leader in innovative products, many things that he invented are now
industry standard items. He now has a manufacturing company (h.s.e.)
Hurford studio equipment, based in Vancouver. The company makes high
end, quality stainless steel grip and electric hardware and is now
supplying a large portion of the Canadian business.