Smoke on your daughter (Apologies to Deep Purple)

In February I put my big pants on and took a trip up into the big city of Birmingham to meet up with the cool ladies at FPS Fitness in Yardley Wood.

Such a warm welcome by Lisa and Azar who helped me lug the portable studio into the excellent room and thrust cups of tea at me while the build took place.

Azar had been at a previous Smoke Pole Shoot I had created and had a queue of lovely ladies wanting to recreate the same experience in their studio.

The space was excellent and I was able to hitch up 2 backdrops side by side, clamp six flash units with coloured gells at key locations and fire up the smoke machine ready for a day full of serious pole work and giggles.

Lisa was so supportive of her ladies and encouraged them to be the best they could in their 30 minutes segments. “Bob more smoke” was her enthusiastic cry as every lady took the stage and executed their series of shapes with control.

Every time I work with ladies (mostly) who perform this fitness skill I am in awe of their flexibility and strength as they gracefully climb the pole and twist, grip, turn, grip and roll into the splits with minimal effort displayed on their face. All the time remembering to point their toes.

I recently did a shoot with a male assistant who thought that after watching a couple of performers on a hoop, that climbing up was as easy as it looked. He lasted all of 30 seconds and his feet only just left the floor before collapsing red faced, full of a whole new respect.

Folks this skill is tough and the upper body and core strength you build up training and performing is not to be underestimated.

Anyway, here’s a short video to celebrate the ladies and the day.

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome and I look forward to our next get together.

PS: Thanks to Azar and Nat for the BTS images