Behind the Scenes at SV

In March 2013, we organised a photo shoot with the talented Steve Murray to introduce the new Verve team. The vision for this shoot was to create something new, edgy and a little bit sexy. Something completely unforgettable. “This is the style I have in mind for our next instructor shoot” – Jen shows us smoky eyes and sultry faces amongst a tangle of arms and legs. Oh, I thought, this is something we haven’t done at Verve before.

Preparations started weeks, even months in advance. Long days were spent at the studio wrapping our bodies around the pole, trying to create that perfect, innovative photographic shape. It was soon apparent that this was no small task. Body limitations became our nemesis, “If I could just…” became the phrase of the day.

We were advised to tan up, ultimately so we didn’t come up in the photo as a white reflective smear on the pole. The majority of us opted for a gradual moisturising tanner, having been warned off spray tans due to… “unpredictable”… results. The key word there was majority. Louise bravely went the spray tan path and despite our best efforts, next to her we all looked particularly pasty.

It was an early 8am roll call on Saturday 23 March. We had to arrive on time with clean, dry hair and no make-up. NO MAKE-UP!? The clean dry hair was absolutely not an issue, but leaving the house without make-up was like leaving the house without pants. Not something I’m often caught doing. But it would seem as though I survived. 

The studio was buzzing with activity, even at the early hour. The stage was being set by Twee and Steve, lighting was being tested, hair was being styled, faces were being applied (thankfully) and stretching was well and truly underway.

What can we say? The camera loves Twee

The amount of work that went into making us that glamorous should not be underestimated. It was a HUGE production of epic proportions. The table in reception was no longer visible under the amount of foundation, eye shadow, lipstick and blush that went into creating our faces.

Our clean dry hair was slowly morphed into big, radical, rock-chic do’s. These hairstyles had some serious attitude. Hair was teased, sprayed, pinned (oh so many pins!) teased and teased a little more into place; “Big” seems like such an understatement when it comes to the hairstyles being created. Except me, somehow I managed to avoid the teasing comb (and thus avoiding having 2 days of dreadlocks) and came out of it with a slicked wet-look style.

Hair and makeup? Tick. Costumes? Ti…uh… did anyone think about getting costumes over our hair?

Clare was happy...until she was attacked with the comb. Lou as Sonic the Hedgehog and lucky me, no teasing!

Alana was finally found safe and unharmed

So most of you will have had Jen or Twee yell something at you at some point. “Point your toes”! “Lift your chest”! “Smile”! Hands up who has experienced BOTH of them together *Clare, Brook, Phoebe, Louise, Alana, Michael and I put our hands up*. They yelled with love. While Steve quite patiently told us he knew we were in pain but really needed us to smile and not squint or close our eyes (the latter goes out to you Phoebe ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ Shand).

At some point the phrase “make love to the camera” was thrown around. If anyone wants a really good laugh, ask Louise for her making love to the camera face. This may come as a surprise to you, but sexy is definitely not something that came naturally to us. That is, until you give us a camera to play with of our own. While Jen was creating some amazing photos in one studio, the team ventured into the other to work on our pouts. Some great photo’s came out of this play time, Twee couldn’t believe that we were able to be sexy in one room, and not the other.

Playing "sexy" in the second studio!

This was definitely a team bonding experience. While we all knew each other, we generally just saw each other in passing as we are in and out of classes. Team Verve really came together that day as we all really got to know and love each other. 

Twelve hours later, that’s a wrap folks!

We sincerely hoped you enjoyed the final images, as much as we enjoyed creating them. We are forever grateful to everyone involved. Click here to view Steve's amazing collection of photos

Jane xox