I had the opportunity to photograph the amazing Liz Thompson. Liz teaches the art of Aerial Silks. Fortunately I’d had a rig point installed in the studio ceiling to handle this kind of thing just in case the issue of dangling ever came up. I was using a 1K Fresnel and a lot of reflectors for the main light, and I had rigged up some LEDs in the room which created what one might call a color interest reflected in the cloth in this set. I shot with the Canon 5d Mark II with the Canon 16-35mm 2.8 lens. I asked Liz to explain to us how she made the Aerial Way her way.
Well, I started doing silks back in 2013.  I wanted to build more strength but I found that just going to the gym and lifting weights wasn’t my cup of tea.  I went through a phase where I tried several different types of fitness classes.  That phase ended the moment I hit the silks!  It was love at first sight. When I was a beginner I had almost no upper body strength, but there are a lot of beginner level skills and exercises you can do to build up.  Over the years I’ve awakened muscles I didn’t even know I had and done things that I never thought possible.  The journey to get here has been great, too.  I’ve made a lot of strong and supportive friends along the way.  
Another thing that I love about aerial silks is the creativity involved.  Once you learn a few skills, you can start to play with transitions and sequences to put things together in a unique way.  It’s such a fun and rewarding process to come up with a new flow.
’m thrilled to be able to teach aerial silks and share my passion with others.  I would encourage anyone curious about it to give it a try.  At the very least it will be fun, but it just may also change your life!
Liz teaches introductory level classes at Lux Performance Arts in Apex, NC.  For more information on classes, visit her website at www.lizthompson.me or visit Lux at luxperformancearts.com