Lorna is an asolute powerhouse,  Miss Poledance Champion, and Miss Poledance Champion trainer too, as well as an X-Pole rep, studio owner and carer. Her studio up in Chesterfield is a superb space to train in and it’s great for shooting too.

We decided to experiment with a dark backdrop look for the shoots this year for the student shoot so we set about setting up lights, struggling a little bit with the bright sunhine streaming in through the windows and illuminating the backdrop. Nothing some gaffer tape and yoga mats couldn’t fix!

After we were done shooting pole it was time to grab some shots of Liam Walker, Lorna’s awesome husband. He’s affectionately known as the Pole Daddy at the studio for the work he’s done in helping rebuild and support the club, but he also happens to be an arborealist extraordinare as well as a fantastic musician. Guitar and amps in tow, we used the same dark backdrop with a slightly different lighting setup to get some shots of Liam to help promote his material on social media, which you can find here as Liam Walker & The Nevison Gang.

Test shoots are a great opportunity to meet the instructors, scope out the studios and help explain how the main event will run, so it’s pretty much a win all round! It also gives me the opportunity to experiment a little with lighting, as there is normally a lot more time and a lot less pressure which provides ample opportunity to break the rules and try things out.

The studio space at 1st Class is fantastic, but as with a lot of old industrial buildings it’s plagued by beams cutting across it, often not more than 8ft up. This can present some real challenges when it comes to finding spaces and angles to shoot from that don’t obstruct lights, whilst maximising pole to backdrop distances and vertical height.

After some fettling and headscratching we finally settled on a lighting setup that we were happy to use on the upcoming student shoot – a mix of consistency and repeatability that would work in the space for a variety of performers!

A huge space with some tricky overhead skylights that threw up some interesting issues with shadows from beams, amongst other things. When approaching a new studio to work in I will always try and arrange a test shoot with the owner first – it allows for them to get to know me and see how I work, and for me to investigate the space and uncover any “Gotchas” that might interfere with the lighting or backdrop.

It’s always easiest to shoot on white, as it’s the simplest backdrop to fix in post should there be inadequate space or inconvenient light leaking in from skylights etc. Sometimes, though, some feature of a studio grabs you and cries out to be used, such as the silky curtains here at Flight behind the aerial equipment!

The aim of the shoot was to settle on a look for the upcoming group shoot not just for the pole setup, but for the hoop rig as well. Such an amazing space, can’t wait to get back there!