7. November 2010 02:35
by Rene Pallesen
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Today it is Aidens Birthday....he is now 5 Months old (when you are less than 6 months old you get to have birthday every month).
He is a good/easy little boy. He is now able to keep his head up, but still unable to sit or roll around onto his tummy. He sleeps through the night and wakes up around 7.30 to get a feed. On weekends he is happy to go back to sleep so his Mummy and Daddy can sleep in.
He is very quiet when in crowded places and likes to just sit and observe (Kims dad is saying that he has got that after me).
It has taken me a long time to get this photo done. I had to wait for him to keep his head up and even then it was pretty hard to get hime to look in the right direction.
3. November 2010 11:50
by Rene Pallesen
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I have now finished the second portrait in the series of the four elements...just Fire and Air left. This one is "Water". The yellow blob is a Weedy Sea Dragon.
...Really helping my Photoshop skills. Not sure if anyone else thinks these photos are cool...but they are cool to make and are different from what I'd otherwise be doing.
1. November 2010 09:50
by Rene Pallesen
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This weekend Kim and I went to see the musical Fame at Capitol theatre with a couple of friends Audrey and John.
Most of the cast was made up of dancers from “So you think you can dance” so there was a potential for a really good performance with some excellent dancing.
Our friends had organised a babysitter for the night and Aiden was being looked after by Kim’s dad and sister.
The performance was good (but not great). I think we were expecting more singing and dancing (It was a musical) and less dialogue. The second half of the play was a lot better than the first half with more dancing.
Unfortunately our friends missed this part as she was worried about their kid left alone with the babysitter (that is kinda the point of getting a babysitter) and left during the intermission.
At the end they got everyone in the audience up from their chairs for the famous "Fame" song.
Kim and I however had a good night out…and she looked smashing!
20. October 2010 11:11
by Rene Pallesen
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Lately I have been playing around with Photoshop a lot more going through different tutorials.
Main purpose is to enable me to manipulate photos and add a different dimension to these photos. I have especially been trying to create some interesting profile photos that I can use of facebook and the like.
The portraits don't necessarily mean anything...mainly created them to see if I could do something out of the ordinary.The plan is to see if I can make a series Earth - Water - Fire - Air following the four basic elements.
It was really hard to get the starting photo right in my studio. It is almost impossible to do a photo of one-self and have it in focus...eventually Kim had to step in a help me (which I am very grateful for). In total it took me about 2-3 hours from start (taking the photo) to the finished result.
18. October 2010 09:19
by Rene Pallesen
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Yesterday we went to the beach to have a coffee with a couple of friends. While Kim was catching up on all the gossip I went out to see if I could get some good photos of the surfers (The surf was pretty good that day).
18. October 2010 09:02
by Rene Pallesen
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On the weekend I had a bit of fun with Aiden. I bought a world map on email just so that I could take the following photos of him...
And this last photo I call "Is this where you grew up daddy??"
He is now 4 months old and still doesn't like being on his belly...so I had to be pretty quick with the setup.
18. October 2010 08:46
by Rene Pallesen
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15. August 2000 10:41
by Rene Pallesen
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Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )The Competitors . . .The competitors did not rest... three of the teams were half way through the 600 kilometre course after only three days... pretty amazing!
Two of the teams were Australian. 18 teams were out of the race. At least 10 of these were due to medical problems.
Hardly any people around here get enough sleep... the place is active 24 hours per day because there are always competitors coming in!
I was keen to find out how the Danish team would turn out. At the beginning of the race, they were not very sociable. But by the end of the race, I think the tension of the race had gone, and I managed to have a chat with them. By the third day, the Danes are doing pretty well... they had a 22nd place!
This was the mountain-bike leg of the race.
The guy you see being transported to hospital in the helicopter (photos below), was doing this part of the race. He was rounding a corner on his bike and rode straight into a large branch.
We had a lot of medical urgencies... we almost lost a guy with a punctured lung !
I got some great photos and helped getting the guy into the mobile hospital. There was a lot publicity on the website and through the media about it.
Fortunately, he was only 15 minutes away from HQ, so it was possible for us to get him to the helicopter very quickly, and to the nearest hospital.
Another leg of the race involved rowing in these “sampans”, a Malay term for “boat”. At some point, the teams in the race had to also split up - some of them swimming, some of them rowing, to complete the water leg of the race.
Below, the competitors had to use a flying fox to cross the canyons. I managed to have a go at it - compared to rock-climbing... well, I found it pretty boring *smile*. I imagine most people would find it quite fun though.
There are no places to climb here.
I had hoped to take one of the helicopters to Madai Caves to check out the 200 metre abseil. The road to the Madai Caves lead directly through the tiny village of Gua Madai - a small cluster of homes, their wood bleached grey.
The town’s main sources of income are tourism and birds’ nests. The nests are found high up the walls of the cave, tucked away in cracks and crevasses, and can command thousands of dollars. They are harvested about three times a year.
My girlfriend mentioned trying "bird's nest soup" whilst I was there. She said normally the bird's nest they use belong to the swallow. It is a delicacy to many Asians, and similar to shark's fin soup - that is if you have tried it. Normally the nests are made out of the birds' saliva.
There was so much rain at Silam that HQ was often flooded.
Many of the competitors took the opportunity to get some sleep and the slept on whatever they could find.
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Created: 7 Dec 2001
15. August 2000 10:40
by Rene Pallesen
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Ecochallenge ( Sabah 2000 )Silam and Jungle Ops . . .It is so bloody hot in Silam! It must have been at least 40 degrees and 100% humidity!
Silam was the overall headquarters, and Danum Valley Field Centre (DVFC) was referred to as Jungle Ops. Jungle Ops controlled all radio communications and conducted the race through the the jungle.
From Kota Kinabalu, we flew to Lahad Datu and drove the rest of the way to Silam. Silam was the site of one of the repeater stations. We had to set up a HQ a few kilometres from this station... heaps of opportunities for a few walks in the jungle.
The operation at Silam was huge!... I had never seen such a busy place before. The place was crawling with energy. It was bigger than any military operation I had ever seen! You would be amazed to see the logistics involved in this project ! At the time I did not have the time to take a lot of photos.
We had many army trucks transporting the competitors' equipment - very good cooperation from the military. They helped out with the preparation and set-up of HQ, and with the transportation of fuel.
This is the headquarters on the left.
The whole Ecochallenge race is governed from this office.
The map in the background contains the position of all the checkpoints at which the competitors have to go through.
Both of the above photos are aerial shots of HQ and were taken from a helicopter.
I managed to get a nice aerial shot of Silam HQ. The big white patch in the middle is where the competitors stored all their equipment. Just to the left are the containers from where the race is controlled. The 4 'finger-like' white pads on the right are the heli-pads. The long rectangle to the left is the eating area, and just above it is the hospital.
Approaching DVFC in helicopter.
This is actually a research centre in the middle of the jungle - commonly known as DVFC (Danum Valley Field Centre).
DVFC is not normally accessible the tourists and the general public, only to researchers.
DVFC is concerned about contamination into the jungle.
Outside Jungle Ops HQ.
The green boxes contain bottled drinking water.
By the time the race was over, most of this had been consumed - quite amazing really, considering there were really only 10 people at Jungle Ops.
During the competitors were not allowed any help from us, and that included the provision of drinking water.
Paul with some of the radio equipment at Silam.
He is standing next to the HQ matrix, which contained all the communications equipment for headquarters.
Paul is also standing next to the only 2 beds in the HQ building. These were used by the radio operators to nap in between shifts.
Below, you see me sitting in the catering tent at Silam.
I think it must have been a good day, to have been sitting there, smiling... I am just guessing here, because
Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal