Not Your Average Agency Photoshoot - UnBasic Agency

When Maddie sent me the mood board for her latest branding shoot I let out a ‘Hell Yeah’.

Maddie and Mick run UnBasic, a digital marketing agency that specialises in bespoke marketing for clients that are sick of the ‘one size fits all’ approach.

I met Maddie during our prep for a charity boxing match with Fortitude Boxing. After contracting me to shoot one of her clients, we have since developed a friendship around dark humour and sarcasm. Her witty humour combined with a borderline autistic drive for marketing lends to an absolute power house of abilities in this digital space.

The man of a thousand expressions. I was in stitches of laughter during our shoot with Mick’s ability change his face into every meme you could imagine. Head of design, I share Mick’s love for BOLD imagery and love looking at his creative work.

With most internal branding being your boring cliche headshots and dull tones, we wanted to make sure you remembered UnBasic when you hit their website, receive a digital pack or rock up to their instagram.

This was a super fun shoot and i’m excited to continue working with UnBasic on some exciting client work coming up next year.

If you’re wanting to have your brand/team stand out I’d love to help! Get in touch and lets bounce some ideas around on how we can take your image to the next level.

'Caught Back Stage'

‘Caught back stage’ Kia and Cam are a super stare couple of dancers that helped bring my idea to life.

The theme was; a wild singer/dancer duo that where ‘caught back stage’ for a quick photoshoot before a show, flexing their designer sunnies that they are never seen without.

As someone myself that is never seen without his sunnies, I love how bold this set has come out, emphasising their cool shades.

Kia and Cam’s chemistry really added to this shoot and I hope to see them when they are back from Europe for another shoot!

Suits Can Look Cool Too! - Luke Sartor Corporate

All these people in suits have souls too! And I love helping them bring out their personality.

When people hear ‘corporate photoshoot’ they think of a painful experience where they are forced into a half baked smile and left looking like another drone in the matrix.

I think it is crucial as a photographer to give your subjects an ‘experience’ as a photoshoot. So with a little charisma and charm, I try to leave my corporate clients having a great time when we break their usual daily routine for their team photos. This leads to much more genuine, relatable and human reactions, that better translate the companies team and brand.

‘What would you want on the cover of your autobiography?’ This is the question I pose to myself and my clients when we are trying to create personal branding images that gives them authority, translates their persona and communicates their story. In the endless sea of ‘LinkedIn headshots’, I really want my clients to stand out form the heard of suits.

Whether a client is a seasoned media appearance veteran or its their one moment of fame, I want the viewers of their piece to stop and take notice. ‘Bold’ is one of my core style principles (bold, raw, minimal) and that’s how we get their audiences attention.

I loathe nothing more than deathly boring brand comms, you know the ones? Stock images of another company that kind of fits your company and ‘ah it’ll do the job. Bringing the personality out of a brand and having its members bring their own individual elements that contribute to the whole, brings me great joy. Ive had the pleasure of helping some great teams express their quirky selves!

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.

Bold . Raw . Minimal - Harsh Lighting Technique

Earlier this year, I embarked on an exciting test shoot in the studio with model Jamie Verster. I experimented with harsh lighting techniques to capture jewelry images, which are typically shot with soft lighting. My aim was to infuse these images with a bold, harsh lighting setup to make them really pop. This shoot served as a creative exploration that I then referenced for ICONS project.

I am particularly drawn to the crisp shadows and vibrant, contrast-rich colours that this technique produces, all while maintaining flattering skin tones. To achieve this effect, I used a bare bulb strobe directed straight at the model.

Although this strobe method can be intimidating to some creatives, mastering its nuances can yield stunning results.

I love how this type of lighting commands attention and distinguishes itself from the conventional 'soft fashion' lighting prevalent in the industry.

Don't forget to follow Jamie — she's an incredible personal trainer, emerging model, and a talented UGC creator!

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

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.

Damn I Love Shinny Things!

I’ve always been a bit of a bower bird so shooting this project with Stephen Dibbs Jewelers was a real treat!

I wanted to photograph the pieces to show how they complement the beauty of the women that wear them. Each piece could not detract from the woman, nor the image become solely about the models.

I feel like the elegance of the twins Jordie and Bianca as well as the beautiful Jess translated as they wore the pieces with class and maturity. It also helped that the pieces from Stephen Dibbs are absolutely gorgeous. It was fun for everyone on set to mix and match each statement piece with a different look and complementing set of pieces to achieve each editorial.

I cant wait for another project like this as I have new ideas that need to hit the canvas!

Shooting Wide Portraits

I love shooting on wide lenses. Due to the nature of a wide lens you have to be very close to your subject to fill the frame. This closeness, where I’m usually 1-3 feet away translates in each image that cant be reproduced by cropping-in with a telephoto lens.

It also has an effect on my subject. At this close range I’m very much in their space. It forces them to have more of an intimate interaction and become comfortable with me rather than the stand-offish nature of standing back shooting with a longer lens.

Another characteristic of wide lenses is that they extenuate and warp the features of what ever is closest to the lens. I like having my sitters reach out, have there feet closer or have me shoot up at them and let these features become almost cartoonish.

Here are some of my favorite images from recent shoots that demonstrate this connection.

Montez Portfolio Update

Good morning all! Recently I have been shooting with my friend Mr. Relentless, Montez Wilkins updating his acting and commercial modeling portfolio. We wanted to do some raw studio images that really capture his personality and charisma.

Working from the amazing Gold Coast Studio, Montez just had to be himself and let it flow in front of my lens and I think you can feel his energy. I like to conduct a small interview with my subject to get to know who they are and what they believe then have them show me this in our session. Following this shoot Montez used these images to land representation by one of Australia’s leading modeling agencies Wink Models! Congratulations to him.

We have also recently shot a sports campaign portfolio which I will be releasing with you all soon.

Have a Sick day!