It was great to be invited to take official photos at the Pole Divas event in Manchester last week. There were once again some superb performances by all the performers (especially as it was the finals), and once again, lots of images were taken throughout the evening, and around 750 photos from the event can be seen on Flickr.

Here are a few of my highlights though:

This was taken just before Tamar's performance, checking the pole for enough grip. I just really liked the naturalness of her smile in this photo (it was a great performance too!)


The 'Death Lay' is a move that only last year, was VERY rarely seen in competitions or performances, but was performed by Pantera after the Miss Pole Dance UK Finals in 2008. However, this year, at least 4 performers included the move (to varying levels of success) in their routines! Very impressive.


There were three levels within the competition, and this year the 'professional' section was one by the very lovely Annie Norris. Annie is someone I've been fortunate to work with on a large number of occasions through her support of the X-Pole. I love how really incredibly happy Annie was to have won this event, and how it fortunately showed in many of the photos from the evening.


If you'd like to check out the larger range of images, please see the collection on Flickr.

It was a pleasure to be invited back to Miss Pole Dance UK 2009 this year, as an official photographer of the event. Once again, it was held in the great venue of Scala, near Kings Cross.

- See the full collection of images on Flickr

Unfortunately, because of other commitments I was only able to make the final part of the event, however this was certainly very worthwhile attending, with some superb performances from some familiar faces, and some incredible new faces too.

I was very lucky with the lighting on this image of Faye Chatterley, especially with the uplighting on a member of the audience gazing at the performance.


In this image, the resulting winner Maxine (Maria Betts) was just completing the final part of a ball drop from the top of the pole. It was great to get the expression of the audience within this one too.

This was taken at the end of a great doubles entry by Deb Riley and Sasha Kavaleva.


After the end of the competition, last year's Miss Pole Dance winner, Alesia Vazmitsel gave another superb performance. This particular move shown above, isn't normally my preferred body angle for Pole photos, however the incredible strength and flexibility of this move makes it pretty special, and so well worth posting regardless.

If you'd like to see the rest of the images from the evening, a little over 600 images can be viewed through the full collection on Flickr. Or of course you can visit the events page on www.jasonparlour.com/events/

If you'd like to purchase any images, please do so via the normal payment page, accessible from the main homepage of www.jasonparlour.com

Labels: Alesia Vazmitsel, Deb Riley, Faye Chatterley, Maria Betts, Maxine, Miss Pole Dance UK 2009, Sasha Kavaleva, Scala

I was very pleased to be taking photos at the recent Pole Divas Event in Bristol.

Here's one of my favourite images from the evening:

Please view the Flickr Gallery if you'd like to see some more images from the event,

I felt privileged to be invited to take photos at the Suzie Q Masterclass in Berkshire on Sunday (and am fortunate to be working with her again later this week).

She's certainly an amazing pole teacher (and of course a superb performer), whilst at the same time, being a really genuine, and lovely person. It was a pleasure to meet her, and a real bonus that she was so supportive in helping arrange for portraits at the end of the day. My thanks go out to her.

Around 170 photos from the day can now be found on Flikr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonparlour/sets/72157622162566329/
(although unfortunately lighting was a bit of an issue down in the club).

If you'd like to purchase any of these images, for personal use on places like Facebook, etc. I've arranged a deal at simple £5 for five images, sent digitally via email to you (without the central 'copyright' watermark).

Signed prints by Suzie Q

If you'd like an A4 high quality photographic print, personally signed by Suzie Q this Saturday 12th Sept and then posted out to you the following week (or collected on the night), please arrange for a payment of £10 per image, to me by Friday at 12pm (midday) at the latest, with details of the image numbers you'd like printed (ie 'IMG_8611').

If you'd like to pay by PayPal, there will be a slight admin charge because of the costs incurred. Similarly, postage will be at cost if you'd like delivery rather than collection. If you can let me know in advance which images you'd like printed though, you can bring cash to the UKAPP finals in Reading on Saturday.

Larger Prints / Commercial Use

If of course you'd like any of these images blown up to A3 photographic prints (on paper or canvass), or even A2 posters (although there won't be time to get the anything above A3 signed), please get in contact immediately.

Similarly, if you'd like to use them on your own professional website for publicity purposes, etc. then a reasonable arrangement can be made, so please do get in contact.

I've just come back from another amazing time at the Glastonbury 2009 Festival.
A really superb time once again, and although I didn't get as carried away this time with the images, was fortunate to be able to capture a few moments that highlighted the key points for me during the weekend.


Just some of the crowds


This guy was calling out "I can't use my eyes, so I hope everyone's looking at me!"


Just one of the incredible efforts by 'The Black Eagles' in the circus tent.



Dancing away to Pendulum on the Saturday night.

A bunch more images can also be seen on my Flickr site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonparlour/sets/72157620725532166/

Labels: Glastonbury 2009, Mud, Pendulum

Although my blogs have been pretty quiet on this site for the past few months, it's certainly not through lack of photography. Things have been very busy on lots of privately commissioned shoots, both at the new Purity Studio in Reading, and on location.

I have however just noticed that Windows Live Spaces has now removed it's feature of using the images from live spaces, to display a slideshow on this website. As a result, I've now pulled those slideshows offline, until a more suitable replacement can be found.

Sorry though, that as a result, you won't be able to see much in the way of a selection of my images though this site. This will be changed and sorted soon though.

If you have any queries in the meantime, please do let me know.

It was a pleasure to assist PurityPoleDancing again last weekend, at the Purity Studio, in a series of photos for Jolene's new teachers. Due to the continued success of Purity, these new teachers will now be expanding classes across the south of England.

Do check out their website for further photos!

Labels: Pole Dancing, Portrait Photos, Purity Studio