Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal

Believe it or not, I still have quite a few friends in Denmark. I would like to put photos of all of them here - unfortunately I do not have photos of all of them. If you are one of my friends and your photo is not on this page then please do not despair - I still consider you a friend, and maybe, the next time I go to Denmark, I shall have photos of you all!

Kenneth in kitchen

Here is one of my best friends in Denmark. This photo was taken quite a while ago, before I came to Australia.

Kenneth is now living here in Sydney, on the beautiful Manly beach - only about a half hour away from me. Kenneth came to stay with me a few months ago. He was trying out a new job, and actually came back! He is going to give Australia a go, to see if he likes it like I do. No more biting winters, lots of warmth and sunshine, beautiful mountains and bush to explore... and I think he has discovered, there are lots of friends to make - especially the pretty fun-going ones with two legs and a skirt! *smile*

He is actually a pretty good cook. Whist he stayed in my apartment for a couple of months, he cooked pot roast with gorgonzola sauce, and also gave a wonderful 3-course dinner for a small group of friends here. About two years after I arrived in Australia, I returned to Denmark for a visit. On the day I arrived in Denmark, he threw together a party for me!

Ester

Here is Ester, another one of my friends.

She is a fashion designer and paints some wonderful paintings.

Me!

Naturally at parties, there was quite a large amount of beer being consumed (how can you not?? - not possible to have a party otherwise in Denmark.

It was nice to taste one of the annual Christmas beers from Tuborg.
Created: Jan 2000 Last Updated: 16 Sept 2001

28. July 2001 10:46
by Rene Pallesen
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Schwedagon . . .

28. July 2001 10:46 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Schwedagon was a holy place with extremely large and beautiful temples.

To get to Schwedagon, you had to travel up very long escalators. I took this photo because these escalators were the only escalators I had seen during my whole trip in Burma. As Schwedagon is a very religious place for the locals, I guess to travel up these escalators give the sense of travelling to a higher and holier place.

Temples at Schwedagon Photo 1

The temples at Schwedagon were really impressive.

Temples at Schwedagon Photo 2

I was told that collectively, these temples were built with 39 tonnes of pure gold.

Cleaning Up

At the end of the day, the locals all contributed in cleaning the place. They clean all the tiles and are very organised.

Big Stuba

Here is the 'Big Stuba'. All that gold...

Up close, the temples are a glorious sight. Especially at night!

Can you see those lights at the base of the B Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal

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21. December 2014 09:01
by Rene Pallesen
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Kim riding a bike

21. December 2014 09:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Kim has never learned to ride a bike. One day at the park she borrowed Kaylas bike and gave it a try.

She did pretty good considering that she's never done it before.

20. December 2014 09:01
by Rene Pallesen
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Cool art work

20. December 2014 09:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Here is some quick snaps of some public artwork that I find really cool.

This artwork I found in the Macquarie centre.

It is thousands of plastic balls suspended from the ceiling.

And this grafitti is from Redfern...I wish all grafitti was this well done.

19. December 2014 09:01
by Rene Pallesen
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The Tiger who came to tea

19. December 2014 09:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

One day we went with the kids to the opera house to experience a play called "The tiger who came to tea" which is based on a childrens book of the same title.

We had borrowed the book week before and read it to the kids so they were very excited and the play was really good fun and well made.

15. December 2014 09:01
by Rene Pallesen
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Lindt Cafe

15. December 2014 09:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

One of the sad events of the year was the attack on the Lindt cafe in Sydney where a lone gunman took the patrons as hostages. He was eventually shot by the police after killing two patrons.

All of Sydney laid flowers in front of the cafe as Martins place.

22. November 2014 16:11
by Rene Pallesen
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Daydream island

22. November 2014 16:11 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

A couple of weeks ago we went to Daydream island in the Whitsunday islands at great barrier reef.

This was a great opportunity to check out some of the natural beauties...

...such as Whitehaven beach.

We spent a lot of time playing at the pool and at the beach.

The resort has a massive inland lagoon with lots of stingrays and sharks that the kids loved.

Aiden and Lucas were allowed to touch some of them including this live shark.

and stingrays and star fish.

And on the island there were lots of kangaroos.

A beautiful place.

And I did have time to do a bit of creative shooting.

Eventually it was time to say goodbye to the island with a vulcan salute.

20. November 2014 14:11
by Rene Pallesen
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Mini open day photo shoot

20. November 2014 14:11 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

In early November I did another open studio day. This time a mini day with less models, hair and makeup and studio setups.

As usual it was good practice and fun to work with the various models. I think I did get some great photos and there were a lot of lessons learned that can be done better next time.

Model: Charlotte de Lucey

Model: Jessica Garcia

Model: Tanika de Alwis

Model: Britney Williams

Model: Tanika de Alwis

Compared to the other times I was doing a lot more natural light photography this time and some of it in nasty and not very flattering direct sunlight. I think I still managed to get some very usable results out of it.

Model: Nikki Doan

Model: Amy Hill

The hardest thing for me is still the communication with the models and the creation of a vision that is different when you are on a fixed set.

Model: Jessica Garcia

23. October 2014 10:10
by Rene Pallesen
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Trip to Manly

23. October 2014 10:10 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This Sunday we took the ferry to Manly.

It is a beautiful trip past the opera house and the boys were very excited being on a boat.

At Manly we went down to the beach. It was a calm day so the boys had a lot of fun at the edge of the water.

After that Kim did some shopping, we had some fish'n'chips and we also had an ice cream.

17. October 2014 17:10
by Rene Pallesen
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Water play

17. October 2014 17:10 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Last weekend it was pretty warm here in Sydney and the lawn needed watering.

I turned on the sprinkler and we let the boys have some water play.

16. October 2014 18:10
by Rene Pallesen
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Playing with Dragons

16. October 2014 18:10 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

It is Friday, so time for a little photoshop fun.

Lucas gets really scared whenever Aiden roars like a dinosaur/dragon. When we went to the forest last weekend he again got scared and I snapped this photo and decided to insert a dragon into it.

13. October 2014 12:10
by Rene Pallesen
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Sydney Harbour panorama

13. October 2014 12:10 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This weekend when we went to Luna Park I took this panorama I took this panorama from the top of the ferris wheel.

It is a series of 5 photos stitched together. The large one if amazing. You can clearly see individuals at Sydney Opera house and you can tell the colour of their clothes.

It was just taken handheld with my D800 and 50mm lens.

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Mt Cook

15. January 2001 11:14 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Created: 18 Aug 2001 Last Updated: 16 Sept 2001

15. January 2001 10:59
by Rene Pallesen
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Mt Cook ( 15 ~ 28 January 2001 )

15. January 2001 10:59 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Above the clouds at Mt Cook - photo competition winner!

Mt Cook ( 15 ~ 28 January 2001 )

I decided to do a Technical Ice-Climbing course with Alpine Guides in New Zealand.

I spent 10 days at Mt Cook doing a very challenging course, but I learnt a lot. I learnt all the techniques required to do ice-climbing safely. I also learnt the necessities of surviving in the icy mountains.

Prior to the trip, a lot of preparation was required. Everyday, I went jogging to build up my fitness, so by the time I left for New Zealand, I could run 3km on the sand without getting puffed. I also had to buy some of the equipment. I had to buy cramp-ons (looks like spiked metal soles) to attach to my boots; ice-axe and ice-hammer; a new Gore-tex jacket (I needed a new one anyway) and some other clothing and equipment.

The photo on the right became a 3rd-place winner in a photo competition.

Our group consisted of 4 other doing the course. There were no prerequisites, other than a love for the mountains and a very high fitness level. Not all of us who do this course go on to climb the great mountains. We also discovered it takes guts and courage to stand on top of the world and feel confident. One cannot be an ice-climber if there is a fear of heights or if unsteady on the feet.

Our ice-climbing group

All of us in the group had come from different backgrounds. Søren was an experienced climber, who had aspirations of going to the Himalayas. Alan was a rock-climber who wanted to try the challenge of ice-climbing. Rob too loved the mountains and wanted the experience and challenge of being on the icey slopes of New Zealand. I had had quite a lot of climbing and mountaineering experience, but this was my first time ice-climbing.

The person holding the camera is Søren. I met him in NZ, whilst waiting for the bus for Mt Cook. To my surprise, he was a Dane living here in Sydney. He was a professional photographer (hence you see him holding the Nikon). He and I had similiar experience so our speed through the course was pretty much the same.

Soren

I actually ended up cracking a rib whilst on the course. I did this during a 'self-arrest' technique, where we actually throw ourselves down a steep slope and try to use our ice-axe to stop ourselves from falling any further. This technique is used in case you fall down a crevass and have nothing to hold onto.

Rob was the other person doing the course. He once dropped his ice-axe and one of us had to abseil down to collect it, as an ice-axe is a piece of equipment that is vital and you only carry one of these each.

We worked in pairs, but had to swap partners as our guide took turns working with each of us.
Søren doing a climb

Ice-climbing is nothing like rock-climbing. You cannot use your fingers (well, they will freeze if you take your gloves off), so you really on equipment like ice-axe and ice-picks to anchor yourself into the ice. These pieces of equipment are really important, especially if you are sleeping on a ledge or stopping for a rest. Other than someone belaying you, using ice-picks to secure yourself into the ice is the backup should your belay fail.

We each took turns at ice-climbing! Alan is the one in the blue jacket, Søren is the one in the red.

I guess Søren has more photos of me climbing, whereas I can't take photos of myself!

In the following section, you will see a series of photos of Mt Cook.
If you want to have a look at the black & white version of this (quite artistic), click here.

Photo 1 of Mt Cook

17. September 2000 10:58
by Rene Pallesen
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Olympic Day Out ( 17th Sept 2000 )

17. September 2000 10:58 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Last September, Sydney held the Olympic Games. I saw a lot of the events on TV but was disappointed with the coverage of other countries' involvement.

However, I did manage to be at Olympic Park during the Games and also see the first handball match - Denmark vs Norway.

I managed to get tickets for the game and had a very nice day with my girlfriend and the Lenehans. I also managed to get some pretty spectacular photos of the Olympic torch.

Olympic torch from afar

Here is Stadium Australia, where the Olympic torch is held. Most of the major track & field events, as well as athletics were held here. It is a pretty spectacular building - and HUGE. During the Olympics, you could not go into just any of the buildings at Olympic Park. You had to have a ticket for an event before you could enter the building.

Stadium Australia

As you can see me, I am wearing my T-shirt supporting Danmark! This is one of the few days that I can wear the T-shirt.

It was a very sunny and warm day and the place was full of people. During the Olympics, you could only get access to the whole of the Olympic Park if you had a ticket. They had quite tight security, and had to go through a detector on the perimeter of the grounds after you got off the train/bus.

Dane in true colours!

The handball game started at about 2pm and we managed to wander round for quite a bit before going into the arena wear the handball was.

The food as amazingly expensive! Normally a fruit salad would only cost about AUD$3, cost up to AUD$8 that day!. Bottles of water was double the price. They really made it a money-making event for tourists! The funny thing too, we noticed that as you entered Olympic Park, all of the signs were in French and English, and all the announcements were given in French first, then English. It was most peculiar!

As we got closer to where the handball games were being held, we saw a lot of Danes and Norwegians dressed in country colours! Danes in red and white and Norwegians... well, there was a guy there who had lots of cow bells around his neck and attached to his clothes. He was wearing a traditional metal helmet and dressed in old-fashioned gear. It was amazing to feel all the atmosphere - just to be there.

True Danish spirit!

We were all in the true Danish spirit! Even my girlfriend was dressed in a white T-shirt and red pants! We painted flags on our faces with some face paint. We were definitely there to support the Danish team!

Even Lance could not help get caught in the moment with us! *smile*

Handball match

A break in the handball game - Danmark vs Norway!

Danmark in red & white, Norway in blue & white.

We had pretty good seats - it was a matter of whoever got there first, had the best seats, although we had to enter through certain doors.

All the journalists and officials sat on the left. We even heard that the crown prince of Danmark was there for the game, even though we could not spot him. There were flags everywhere, Danish and Norwegian waving about. Everytime Norway scored, you could hear countless numbers of cow-bells being rung! A few times, some of the people tried to start a Mexican wave, but that did not work out.

It was a very fast and furious game. It was the only handball game that the Danish lost in the whole Olympic Games, and they eventually came first in the finals!

Group photo

Just after entering Olympic Park, we managed to get a group photo!

As you can see the place is very crowded but very festive - you just had to be there!

Olympic Torch at Sunset

A most glorious sunset!

After the handball match, we wandered around for a bit longer. The day had been quite warm, so the night was a beautiful clear night.

After the Lenehans left, Arumi and I had a look at a small Aboriginal art exhibition located at the Park. We sat on one of the few grassy patches, to watch the flickering of the lights and just enjoy the day.

We eventually went home, but Olympic Park was still swarming with people, who were there to watch events that went on later into the night. Although we did not get the chance to see any other events during the Olympics, it was definitely worth the day we spent there. We would have loved to see the final game when Danmark won, but as usual, we were not very organised...

Below, I have included photos taken on the night of the Closing Ceremony.

These were taken from Graham's apartment on a hill at McMahons Point. We had a spectacular view of the fireworks that went off after the Closing Ceremony. It was really windy on the balcony, but I managed to get some photos of the Olympic rings that were placed on Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Beautiful, isn't it?

Sydney Harbour Bridge at night

15. September 2000 11:05
by Rene Pallesen
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New Car in 2000 . . .

15. September 2000 11:05 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

In September 2000, just after I returned from my trip to Borneo, I had to buy this new car because my girlfriend had written off my car whilst I was away! *smile*

I did not look forward to hunting around for a new car, but I found a good buy locally. This car is a 1997 Ford Futura, with 4.0 litre, 6-cylinder, 220-horsepower, power-steering, central locking and electronic windows (I think I am starting to sound like a car advertisement...)

Frontal view of car

It is pretty much the same colour as my old car, and it feels so nice to drive!

As you can see, pretty similar, but I also really miss my old car! It had a lot of computerised features - from a digital odometer, to adjusting the internal temperature of the car. It was a pretty cool car and wished I could have kept it for another few more years.

Frontal view of car

A huge contrast to my first car!

It is a red hatchback that I bought early 1998, a few months after I arrived in Australia. But someone wrote it off a few months after I bought it. It was a pretty bad accident, but luckily I was alright. I was only covered by Third Party insurance, and to go through a lot of paperwork just to get reimbursement for the car!

15. August 2000 10:43
by Rene Pallesen
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Away from Headquarters . . .

15. August 2000 10:43 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )


Arrival	Silam / Jungle Ops	Repeater Stations	The Competitors	Helicopter	Jungle Around Us	The Village

Away from Headquarters . . .

I managed to explore the villages at Silam.

The people here wore this white stuff on their faces - I guess their form of sunscreen.

These people were refugees from the Philippines.

Kids in the village

The kids were fighting to fit into the photo!

Kids in the village

The kids here were really cute. Caught Monkey

These kids here, had caught a monkey and was trying to sell it at the camp for 5 ringgit (AUD$2.50).

No-one wanted to buy it because they knew if they bought it, and set it loose, the kids would just catch it again, and try to sell it.

In general, there were lots of great photos at Silam village.

Car in a ditch

One of the helicopter pilots was driving through the jungle roads, took a corner too fast, and had a minor mishap.

All of us having dinner

We headed into Lahad Datu to get some seafood!

An escape from camp food. Camp food was disgusting. There were live worms in the vegetables (yes, after cooked). Most of the food was not fresh, and was pretty boring. The seafood was fantastic here. Whenever we had the chance, we ate lots of seafood.

Yum... Paul did not get to eat all of the crabs - all of us had a portion of it.

Huge lobster

Yummm... they were huge, but we did not eat them. They were too big for us to eat, pretty impressive though. They were the biggest lobsters I have seen in my life. We saw these at the same place we ate our seafood and frogs (below).

Frog

We had this frog for dinner about 2 min after I took the photo.

This was actually when I went out with Glen in Kota Kinabalu - he asked me to pick some food and to surprise him.

I did not tell him till a year later that he ate frog meat. He asked me what it was, because he reckoned it tasted funny, but I did not tell him at the time.

I think he will only eat it again. Only if he really had to.

The tallest building in the world

Petronis Towers - the tallest twin towers in the world.

Actually, they are the tallest buildings in the world, followed by the Sears Towers in Chicago.

The towers are joined by some sort pedestrian platform.

These towers are located in Kuala Lumpur.

I went to Kuala Lumpur to pick up my Permanent Residency for Australia.

Woohoo!!! After 2 years of lots of paperwork, and correspondence back and forth with Berlin, I finally managed to get it!

The inconvenience of it all, was that I actually had to leave Australia ie collect my PR before re-entering Australia.

Below, is the only photo I have of the Lateral Linking Team that I worked with during the race.

The radio communications team

15. August 2000 10:42
by Rene Pallesen
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Helicopters . . .

15. August 2000 10:42 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )


Arrival	Silam / Jungle Ops	Repeater Stations	The Competitors	Helicopter	Jungle Around Us	The Village

Helicopters . . .
The radio communications team had to arrive a few days before that because we had to hand out over 2,000 pieces of radio equipment. We had problems getting the necessary approvals for helicopters so they were grounded! I ended having to hand out most of the equipment as Glen and Paul had to sort out our use of the helicopters.

We had to fly all the equipment to Silam before the start of the race, and our team managed to fly to Silam the day before the race started.

Do you believe that Paul managed to take a photo of me whilst I was flying the chopper? He was standing to the side of me, and took the photo at night time, with the door open ...

Jeez, I would love to be the pilot!

Don't you think I look good as the chopper's pilot?

Just kidding.

A couple of days before the race started, I was at the airport most of the day. We had some problems with the radios in the helicopters... I must have been in and out of those helicopters at least 200 times.

I did manage to get someone to take some photos of me in a helicopter, looking very much like the pilot!

I had hoped that I had the time to explore Kota Kinabalue, but we were so busy, it had to wait.

Helicopters at HQ

Here is the 212 or "Huey" - a twin-turbine Vietnam helicopter taking off. It is a hell a lot more powerful than some of the other helicopters we were using, which were 206s.
Landing at HQ

Here are the medical guys practising abseiling out of the helicopters (Aussie style)!

At the start of the race, I was sitting there listening to the first rescue on the radio.

3 hours after the start, four boats had capsized... helicopters and boats were very busy!

The competitors were due to arrive at Silam (another checkpoint) the next day (21st Aug).

For the first few days after the race started, I had to help organise to get the fuel to the top of the mountain.

After that the helicopter came in useful. It brought up 100 litres of fuel on the 4th day so I did not have to ferry fuel anymore!

Glen with repeater station

At the end of the race, we had to sling-load the repeaters, to get them off the mountain. That means we had to strap them onto the helicopters, and pull them off the mountains that way - quite effective really.

Transporting Equipment Photo 2

Repeater station finally airborne!

You can see a pole in the right photo.
My girlfriend asked me what it was for - it helps balance the load so that it does not keep swinging whilst airborne.

Below, you will see some pretty good photos from the chopper.

View from chopper - over the river

Towards the end of the race, we had to scan the rivers for the last competitors coming in - to make sure they had completed this section of the race course. It was low-altitude flying of the river-bed.

The photo on the left shows the chopper approaching Silam Village. This village was located just outside of Silam HQ.

Aerial view of the village

Glen liked wanted to have a photo of the back of my head - and I ruined the photo by turning my head as he took it...

Here's a sunset shot of the helicopters flying around.

I had to put in this fantastic photo - the lighting gives a really nice feel to the photo.

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