Interview w/ Skater, Photographer, Filmer, and Editor Luke Spodobalski

Where did you grow up?

I am born and raised in Reno, Nevada. Having Lake Tahoe only 30 minutes away, I grew up skating the hills, going to the beach, and shredding the resorts during the winters. I still am doing the same thing today, and enjoying every second of it.

Tell me your skate story (when you started, early influences and sessions):

I started to learn how to skate down hills when I was 14, on some mellow hills in Reno. A few years later, I met Phil Sacks, who I learned a lot from, and I finally had the transportation to skate some of what now are my all time favorite roads. Which are only about an hour ½ away from my house, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Skating those roads as much as I did, really made me improve quickly. I was also able to meet a lot more people in the skate scene, get some really great friends, and have some awesome experiences because of it.

What have you been up to lately? 

I recently got back from Medellin, Colombia with my buddy Garret Smith. We went down there to do some filming, and met up with Juan Pablo Villegas, Felipe Marin, Santiago Granada, as well as some other awesome locals. While we were down there, we kept hearing about this awesome, and crazy highway that everyone loves to skate. So we hit it at night, and I made sure to get those guys in front of the camera for a run. Which turned out awesome, and is now out for everyone to see! But, Colombia is such an incredible place, with so much fun and crazy hills. I’ve never experienced skateboarding, like I have down there. Without the help of Juan Pablo, we wouldn’t have been able to make this trip go nearly as well as it did. So thanks for that dude!

Top 3 Foods

1) Burritos

2) Sushi

3) An In-n-out burger, with some animal style fries.

Top 3 Bands

1) Flatbush Zombies

2) Grateful Dead

3) The Growlers

Top 3 things your passionate about

1) Skateboarding down hills

2) Filming and photography

3) Traveling being able to see the world

Top 3 Activities

1) Downhill Skateboarding

2) Snowboarding

3) Exploring

Top 3 People

1) Michael Ambrey

2) Juan Pablo Villegas

3) Garret Smith

Top 3 Memories

1) The first Tepe & Tacos.

2) Skating down a highway in Medellin, Colombia.

3) The first and only night I ever spent in Budapest, Hungary.

Top 3 Dreams / Goals

1) One goal has always just been to live a life doing what I love to do.

2) Going to Japan to snowboard has always been a dream of mine.

3) I want to never stop exploring.

Top 3 Books

1 The Celestine Prophecy

2 The Wisdom of Insecurity

3 The Maximum Ride Series

Top 3 Movies

1) Dazed & Confused

2) The Rush Hour Series

3) Point Break

Top 3 Favorite Places you have traveled to:

1) Medellin, Colombia

2) Tenerife, Spain

3) The French Alps

Top 3 Places you want to travel to:

1) La Reunion

2) Peru

3) Japan, for the powder!