Tech Meets Allied Health . DAMIEN ADLER - POWER DIARYS

In a niche sector of the tech space PowerDiary’s are making huge waves with their allied health practice management/scheduling system ‘PowerDiary’. I sat down with CEO and founder Damien Adler for an interview for the latest cover of Allied Magazine .

PowerDiary’s is used in over 23 countries globally and is taking the US by storm becoming one of the leading practice management systems and growing rapidly.

In 2011 Damien (psychologist) was managing his practice with multiple softwares and thought ‘there has got to be a better way’. Bringing on his brother Paul (technologist) the pair brought their skills together to solve the issue for themselves, little did they know that they had started something that will grow exponentially.

Damien, understanding the struggles other allied health practices deal with in their management systems, put it out to practices Australia wide to try help them simplify their systems. But as the software gained adoption they noticed that it wasn’t just Australian companies using it…. UK, US and other jurisdictions globally were signing up and that was when the light bulb moment happened that there software solves a problem that allied health practices struggle with globally.

I sat down with Damien who is an enthusiastic and articulate speaker, and thoroughly enjoyed our conversation about the early days, global adoption, the future of allied tech and AI and his love of mountain biking. You can watch our full interview below or download this month’s issue of Allied Magazine here.

Chis from Allied Magazine and Allied Marketing has been working with PowerDiary’s over the years to help them grow in the Australian market. The two were great to work with as it was obvious to see both of their passions for the allied space during our photoshoot.

This is my second cover for Allied Magazine and I am excited to continue shooting together as we cover everything in the sporting and health space, which are both big passions of mine.

Life Outside - ANZAC Day

As a veteran myself I have a special place in my heart for fellow ex defence members who may be struggling as civilians in ‘Life Outside’ the military.

During the interviews I conducted with veterans I wanted to gain their perspective on what are some of their struggles, triumphs and things they think the community can do to help support our soldiers when they leave the military.

A key take away from Jake who was an infantry soldier and sniper, is that, ‘it can be as small as someone talking to us that can make a huge difference in our lives. We are not psychos, we just might be having a ruff time.’

Brendan has gone onto become a helicopter pilot after leaving defence and he thinks that having a clear purpose once you leave the military is key to success on the outside. Finding or creating your own purpose will help you have direction when you are the now master of your own ship.

For Angus, finding a community is key to dealing with struggles on the outside. Having a group of like minded people that you can lean on in hard times and hold you accountable when building your new life.

For this Anzac Day please take the time to just say hello to a veteran. Because you never know what they may be dealing with and this small act of kindness can make all the difference.

Thank you for your service.

Luke


Send It!!! - MTB

Sitting there ‘ready’ to take the shot, my mouth dropped as Sam Frazer sends an enormous back flip over a massive jump. Needless to say I wasn’t ready for him to send it like that after only being at the park for 5 minutes 😅. ‘Send it again please’

These are some of my favourite images form my session at Boomerang Farm MTB with professional riders Sam Frazer and Ted Oakley.

The intention of the day was to show the scale, speed and size of the tricks you can throw at this park.

Some of the jumps were absolutely massive for us mere mortals and these guys made them look like play.

Shooting conditions were tuff as there was a lot of distractions in the back ground with the forrest and these guys were ripping some serious speed to keep up with.

Im stoked with the set we were able to come away with, be sure to check out the full set here and Sam and Ted’s instagrams to see more of what these guys can do.

Attila - New Talent

I love the creative collaboration between photographers and models when we set out with no fixed goals but to just see where our creativity takes us.

Greeted by this tall, charming and enthusiastic young man in my lobby, I was taken back by his energy and keenness to try different ideas and modify on the fly.

We worked between a ‘paparazzi interview’, outdoor formal wear (failed haha) and portrait sitting to create some great portfolio pieces.

Very keen to see what we are able to create in the future. Check out the full set in my blog post and give Attila a follow @attila.mbe

Speed - Pain - Adrenaline!

I LOVE ADRENALINE. Always have and always will. I have loved riding motorbikes, flying in choppers, combat sports, and snowboarding my brains out ever since I was young child… and nothing has changed 😅.

It excites me to no end to bring my passion of photography to my love of adrenalin sports and capturing those intense split second moments, that if you blink you’ll miss them.

Adding sport back into the portfolio I am excited for some shoots I have in the pipeline for next year including Trophy Truck off-road racing, Surfing, and Freestyle Motocross.

This Is Glam

I wanted to apply my style ‘Bold, Raw, Minimal’ to simple beauty portraits inspired by some of the greats; Peter Lindbergh, Vincent Peters, Mario Testino. So I assembled a team of other creatives to help me pull it off.

Models Josie and Anna from Chic Management.

Hair and Makup Marie Le

Video Nick Ravnn

Stylist Courtney Moane

Along with the stills I also wanted to explore the idea of ‘Moving Portraits’. Short videos framed as if it was a photo with minimal camera movement but the subject in the portrait has some kind of motion. You can view these in the posts from this shoot on my instagram.

Some Favourites from the year

Reflecting on some of the sets and individual images I have created this year, I believe I have produced some of my best work to date. Of these I have narrowed down some of my all-time favourites and the reasons that I like them.

Jimmy Fkn Thunda

This image of Jimmy is the epitome of my style. Bold. Raw. Minimal.

Bold - Big sunnies, chopper moustache, zero cares. Jimmy is gunna do as Jimmy does.

Raw - The rugged cold gaze through his classic shades, coupled with his mou and unkept hair.

Minimal - No distracting backgrounds or fancy light set ups. Straight on single light, straight on framing, black & white.

Phoebe in Pink

The whole set from this shoot is some of my favourite work but this image is just so fun quirky and eye catching. Phoebe’s inquisitive expression combined with the closeness of the wide angle shot makes you feel like she is inspecting the pimple on the end of your nose.

Ahrie

The comfort and calmness that Ahrie presents here, leaves me locked in but comfortable in his gaze. I like the shape that hi body is making. Also the first time I got do you my new custom apple boxes!

Maia

Little Maia’s innocent face also expresses an air of confidence, which matches here beautiful personality. Again the effect of a wide angle lens leaves you feeling like her hand is 10cm from your face. (Which it almost was!)

Jamón

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Monetez . Calvin Klein

Montez is one hell of a specimen of a human. Probably the most well conditioned bloke i’ve met, the contrast of the light as it hits his body leaves in you in awe at a human in peak physique. Almost like looking at a marble statue. I love the way the front on light is then compliments the shadows hugging him.

Jayo Archer

Complete confidence. This portrait of X Games athlete and free style MX lunatic Jayo was taken in my make shift portable studio at the motocross track. The side lighting creating a beautiful contrast of light across his face and the contrasting colour pop of red and blue, emphasises his confident demeanour. Also a top dude.

Courtney

Courtney’s cold, hollow, confident gaze draws you straight into her eyes. It’s quite polarising to see someone so pretty have that emotion.

I love the gorgeous front on lightning and how it hits her face, the messiness of her long hair and the discipline of her uniform and bow.

I have many others, and am blessed to have had some incredible humans sit for their portraits. I hope they have enjoyed the experience of shooting with me as much as I have, and that I have been able to create an image of them that when they look upon it they truly see themselves.

V For Visal

Old money dapper with new school suave is how I would describe Visal’s (V’s) style.

Walking around Newstead we went looking for some tasty light to capture some powerful portraits to add to our portfolios.

I wanted to find some areas with a simple environment to allow V to stand out from his surroundings and have the natural light extenuate his presence.

V’s calmness and charm was amazing to work with in front of the camera, effortlessly interacting with his surrounding to create some images I’m super pumped on.

After our shoot and getting to know each other over a lemon, lime, bitters, it was great to share some conversations with another driven creative seeking to carve out his name in the modeling and barber industry.

Rogan Dean

Champion. There are those that let a life trauma dictate their life and then there are those that do what ever the hell they were going to do anyway, Rogan Dean is the latter.

Growing up playing football, Rogan was living the life and pursuing his dream of playing for the NRL. In 2020 his life changed forever when he was hit by a car while on his motorbike and suffered a crush injury to his foot leaving him with the decision to either have a prosthetic foot or remove more of his leg to widen the range of prosthetics available and allow him to pursue his purpose.

To Compete.

Competing in any form is one of Rogan’s driving forces and it lead him to become the Crossfit Games Adapted Devision world champion in 2023. Winning gold after only his second appearance at the games (winning silver in 2022) and short time in Crossfit, Rogans achievements are incredible. Most of us fully abled people would wither at the physical feats that Rogan is able to put his body through as an adaptive athlete.

It was an inspiration and an honour to have Rogan sit for his portrait and allow me to hear his story for my Immortals project.

Luke Cunningham Portfolio

I met Luke in the most random of places. On a set of a music video for Dhanda Nyoliwala. An internet famous Indian rapper that I was renting my 1964 Impala to for the day.

We agreed that we had to work together in the future so we set up a portfolio shoot.

Hitting the Powerhouse at Newfarm park we were surrounded by an eat street market and thousands of people! So we had to think on our feet and move quickly to get the shots as the light was also fading quickly.

Utilising the vibrant colour of the purple trees as a back drop and the cold concrete walls inside the Powerhouse we were able to come away with some bangers!

Luke was a creative model to shoot with and at such a young age he will crush the industry with his passion for his craft.

Lukes Instagram

Celebrating the Artistry of the Human Form with Jamón

In the world of art, Greek sculptures have long been revered for their ability to capture the essence of human beauty and grace. These timeless masterpieces, often depicting women in their most elegant and natural forms, have served as a profound source of inspiration for countless artists throughout history. In a recent photoshoot, I had the privilege of channeling this rich artistic legacy to celebrate the innate beauty of the female form. Much like the sculptors of ancient Greece, our aim was to create images that would not just showcase, but also elevate, a woman's curves to their fullest potential.

Although the style of our images were very different from classical sculptures we were able to who of Jamón’s beautiful form by creating shapes with here body and a simple background.

Second to showing off her form we wanted to capture some simple but powerful beauty shots that have you completely fixed on her eyes.

This was really fun and I'm stoked on this set that Jamón gets to put in her new modelling portfolio.

Updating Mr. Graeme Connors Image

When I was contacted by Graeme’s son Damien about updating the country music legends image I nearly exploded. I’m not a country music guy but it’s Graeme Connors! I was super stoked and set up a meeting with Graeme to see how I could help him.

Upon meeting Graeme it was immediately clear that this was a man of old school class, deep thought and charm. A true artist and gentleman. Being from the same town we exchanged some stories and connected over our mutual love of different art mediums. Learning about his music and how it is a ‘thinking man’s’ country music, it gave me a new appreciation for his approach to his musical craft.

I suggested to Graeme that I was exploring a new Bold, Raw, Minimal style and thought that it would suit his sophistication and charm in these later years of his career. He was immediately in board.

We shot a collection of images in studio here in Brisbane and at a cool old rustic fishing shed in Mackay. I was stoked with the results and was humbled with Graeme’s response to our shooting session and outcome. ‘I’ve done a lot of photoshoots in my time, but this was the first time I felt truly comfortable and at ease with my photographer. I see these images and they a truly me’.

It was my absolute pleasure to shoot with Graeme and his wife Lyn.

Have a ripper day!

Luke