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25. December 2014 08:01
by Rene Pallesen
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Christmas 2014

25. December 2014 08:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This year we celebrated Christmas eve with the boys.

5 days before Christmas I still hadn't taken our annual family photo even though I had the concepts loosely worked out in my head.

I knew that I wanted to do one in the kitchen and one evening when Kim decided she wanted to experiment with cooking brownies I decided to set it up and talked her through the concept and what I wanted her and the kids to do.
It worked out better than expected.

Kim also wanted one of us unpacking gifts.

This one was a lot harder to set up as the light was critical.

The last family photo we did was a simple one taken in the morning at Maroubra beach.

24. December 2014 09:01
by Rene Pallesen
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Inspirational notes for 2015

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

In one of the shops at Eastgardens I found a wall full of these inspirational notes for 2015.

23. December 2014 09:01
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Playing a storm

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

A couple of days ago the kids were playing in the park at Kims dads place while a big storm was approaching.

The light was beautiful so I couldn't resist snapping a couple of photos with my phone.

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.

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23. January 2014 12:28
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Hunter Valley Trip with family

23. January 2014 12:28 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Last weekend we made an overnight trip to the Hunter Valley a couple of hours drive north of Sydney.

The main reason was to see the lights in the Hunter Valley Garden (see separate post), but also to go and taste some wine and generally have a good time.

Pretty soon after we arrived the girls were distracted by the chocolate and cheese places.

We did however go to a couple of places for wine tasting.

We also had some really nice food up there. I was especially impressed by a really nice gnocchi salad I had....it was yummi.

Outside it was really hot...like 39 degrees in the shade. There were a couple of horses relaxing under a couple of trees.

We decided an alternative approach of checking into our hotel and jump in the pool to cool off.

In the evening we went to the light show and on the following day we just did a number of wineries before heading back to Sydney.

17. January 2014 12:11
by Rene Pallesen
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Ten Pin Bowling

17. January 2014 12:11 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

On the weekend we did some ten pin bowling with the family.

Kim had managed to secure some cheap tickets so it was great to play against the family.

We had one lane for the kids (with rails) and one lane for the adults.

I had a bad start and was behind much of the game, but my luck eventually caught up and I started playing a good game.

Afterwards we had a bit of a play in the games arcade

Aiden was absolutely terrified of the big scary bear (I can see why).

The kids also tried to figure out what this machine was for:

I love some of the old 50's style decor.

17. January 2014 12:08
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Water Play

17. January 2014 12:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

It is summer and Lucas and Aiden is enjoying a bit of water play in the back yard on warm days.

15. January 2014 02:32
by Rene Pallesen
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Baptism

15. January 2014 02:32 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This Sunday we had Aiden and Lucas baptised in the local church in Maroubra. Lucky that both Aiden and Lucas behaved throughout the 2 hour long service.

15. January 2014 02:29
by Rene Pallesen
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Malua Bay - Rocks

15. January 2014 02:29 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The rocks at Malua Bay were quite spectacular and dramatic. A couple of times I ventured down to try my luck with some photos around sunset (grey every day)...I really suck at this style and constantly got my tripod soaked.

These were the two best results.

9. January 2014 11:38
by Rene Pallesen
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Malua Bay - The Beach

9. January 2014 11:38 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Having the beach so close was great. I went for a run every morning before breakfast.

We also had a lot of fun playing at the beach with the kids.

And everyone was just really enjoying the time there.

9. January 2014 11:33
by Rene Pallesen
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Malua Bay - Indian dinner

9. January 2014 11:33 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

On news years day we had a very nice dinner at an Indian restaurant (I was soooo full afterwards).

The restaurant also had lice indian music as entertainment.

9. January 2014 11:29
by Rene Pallesen
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Malua Bay - Amusement Park

9. January 2014 11:29 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

On New Years eve there was a fair on and we let the kids have a couple of rides.

They also had a visit to one of the fire engines.

I actually did a ride as well, which is the most awesome one I have seen in years...but because of the scare factor it is censored from this site.

9. January 2014 11:24
by Rene Pallesen
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Malua Bay - Fishing

9. January 2014 11:24 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Chong brought his little tinny along and him and Kims dad went fishing every second day.

I went along one morning out in the open water.

I caught a small flathead (and a puffer fish) which was too small to keep.

9. January 2014 11:17
by Rene Pallesen
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Malua Bay - Playground

9. January 2014 11:17 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

At the beach not far from the house there was a playground. It was great to let the kids play together.

Aiden was obviously keen on going on the swing.

But also the other kids had a go.

Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal

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21. December 2020 13:03
by Rene Pallesen
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School award

21. December 2020 13:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

It is not often gets an award from school, so he is super proud when he gets a little encouragement.

16. September 2020 16:05
by Rene Pallesen
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Pool and Beach Photoshoot

16. September 2020 16:05 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

At Boracay I did another shoot with some beautiful models. It was a fun shoot on the beautiful beach and at the hotel pool.

26. July 2020 10:07
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Gold Coast 2020

26. July 2020 10:07 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Early in the year we made an extended weekend trip to the Gold Coast in Queensland. Main attraction here was for the boys to visit Movieworld and Seaworld.

19. July 2020 13:07
by Rene Pallesen
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Indoor boudoir with Kateriina

19. July 2020 13:07 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

These photo are from a workshop I did with Kateriina as a model.

It was mainly studio with fixed (hot) lights instead of strobes which I am more used to.

Advantage of the fixed lights in a workshop setting is that it is easier to see what the light is like before taking the photo as well as having multiple photographers shooting at the same time.

21. June 2020 17:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Aidens 10th Birthday

21. June 2020 17:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Aidens birthday was during the covid lock down.

Fortunately we were still allowed to have a couple of his school friends over for a little celebration (his school was still open anyhow).

We decided to have it in the garden with a fire pit with roasted marshmellows, sparklers followed by cake.

5. March 2020 20:03
by Rene Pallesen
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Shooting - 800m range

5. March 2020 20:03 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Recently I had the chance to visit the shooting range at Malabar headland with a group of friends.

I used to do a lot of shooting in my younger days, so I was curious to see if I still had it in me.

On this day we were shooting on the 800 meter range (which is a very long distance) with 7.62 NATO rounds.

The distance means that you cannot see where you hit, so they have an electronic readout next to the shooter. The two circles in the middle are about 25cm in diameter at the far end.

Below is the group of shots from my round.

This photo gives a better idea of the distance we were shooting at (It was also a very windy day)

Apparently I shot the best round of the day including the regulars...

Conclusion is that, yes, still got it and I may pick it up as a regular activity some time in the future.

20. October 2019 19:10
by Rene Pallesen
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Boracay Phillipines

20. October 2019 19:10 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

With Kim having a few weeks gap between jobs and badly needing a break she wanted to go somewhere relaxing and where the water and weather would be warm.

After a bit of research we settled on a week to the Phillipines to an island called Boracay.

This is a small island with the most beautiful beach we have seen anywhere outside of Bora Bora (interesting that both have the name 'Bora').

The boys (and adults) managed to get a mighty sunburn already on the first day.

The island also has the most amazing sunsets at the beach.

Also lots of activity on the beach in the evenings whereas during the day is is mostly empty.

We stayed in a large resort built around a golf course. It had seven swimming pools and we spend a lot of time here relaxing with the boys and sipping cocktails.

It was really nice in the evenings to sit in a bar listening to cruisy music. Most of the restaurants and bars would have live entertainers on in the evenings.

One day we went on a snorkeling trip around the island. The boys are well accustomed to snorkeling now and love it. Unfortunately I didn't bring an underwater housing on the trip, but I can say that the coral reef looks to be in a good shape although a lot of the larger schools of fish and large predatory fish seems to be scarce.

We also did a day trip to the main island where we went through one of the local caves.

The cave was full of little bats and also had other creatures that were attracted to the bats and insects such as a snake and spiders I've never seen before.

We even spotted a large hermit crab (size of a hand).

We also went to a local river where there was waterfalls and also rafts for the boys to have a play with.

The food in general was pretty good although we only tried a couple of local dishes (Phillipines is not famous for its food). Especially some of the seafood was really nice.

The way we got around the island was on these small tricycles. There are two types, the old ones pulled by a small moterbike and then the new ones which are all electric. The government wants to have all the old ones off the roads by 2024 which is very sensible both environmentally and economically as even the locals say that they make more money on the new ones.

The main road however is horrendous. In late 2018 the island was closed for 6 months to any visitors due to them sorting out a lot of issues with the sewage system. This means that they have dug up the entire road to install large pipes along with a road widening. A lot of this was still ongoing with the main road being full of holes, but given that it is such a small place it was alright to still get around.

10. October 2019 20:10
by Rene Pallesen
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Karate

10. October 2019 20:10 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This year the boys started doing Karate.

It was something that I've always wanted do do with them, so we looked around for a place where initially they could join some kids classes and then along the way I'd join as well.

Initially they got their red and white stripe belts (automatically)

And then later they went up for grading to get their Red belts.

They love training with some of the equipment that we have at home for it.

Late in the year I joined as well once the sensei established some adult classes and I have now after 20 years (I did a bit of karate back in 1998) finally received my Red belt.

Even Kim has taken a couple of classes - maybe she will even grade on of these days.

1. October 2019 20:10
by Rene Pallesen
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Aiden Holy Communion

1. October 2019 20:10 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Aiden as part of his school had to do his holy communion.

He looked very handsome in his little suit.

10. September 2019 21:10
by Rene Pallesen
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Canoeing with family at Royal national Park

10. September 2019 21:10 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

One weekend we went to the Royal National Park (half an hour south) to go canoeing with the Family.

It was a fun day out and fortunately we can still fit the boys into a single canoe unlike Chong who had to get a rowing boat for his family - they are a lot harder work.

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