Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal

Home

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

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
0 Comments

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
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

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
0 Comments

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
0 Comments

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
0 Comments

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
0 Comments

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
0 Comments

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
0 Comments

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
0 Comments

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.

Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal

Home

5. February 2019 09:02
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Japan - Tokyo Robot Restaurant

5. February 2019 09:02 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

5. February 2019 09:02
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Japan - Shinjuku

5. February 2019 09:02 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

28. August 2018 19:08
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Outdoor Artnude photography workshop

28. August 2018 19:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

I did an art nude photoshoot over on the other side or Botany bat at Kurnell with a group of photographers and a Elen who was the model and organiser.

26. August 2018 16:08
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Camping - Wombeyan Caves

26. August 2018 16:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

We made another camping trip. This time to Wombeyan caves with one of Kims colleagues.

It was just before winter set in, so the nights were cold and it was nice sitting around the fire at night.

There are a lot of limestone caves in the area that are worth visiting. We did this one which was self guided.

I tried to teach the boys how to shoot with a bow - kept them busy for a while.

We also rigged up a badminton net for both adults and kids to play.

But mostly it was the fire that the boys had fun with.

We also did a really long 8km walk - almost lost the track at one point.

26. August 2018 15:08
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Blue Mountains

26. August 2018 15:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This winter we went to the Blue mountains with a group of friends. We hired a house at Leura and spend the days going for walks.

This is from the Grans Canyon walk.

And some from the other walks.

26. August 2018 15:08
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Thailand - Ayutthaya

26. August 2018 15:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Ayutthaya is the old capital of Thailand. It is a couple of hour north of Bangkok, and the easiest way to get there (by far) is by Train (we learned this the hard way).

The capital was only moved 250 years ago after it was ransacked by the Burmese, but now most of what used to be some extraordinary buildings are now mostly rubble.

It is a large area with lots of temples, so it is worthwhile having plenty of time and not rush it. We just visited three of the main sites, and that was plenty with the kids around.

Some of the highlights are the big lying down Buddha.

People still use this as a place of worship.

And apparently it is good luck if you can make a coin stick on the buddhas feed (without resorting to chewing gum).

At one of the temples there is also the head of Buddha stuck in the roots of the tree.

And as usual it is worthwhile keeping a look out for other moments involving people.

26. August 2018 15:08
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Thailand - Ayutthaya Train

26. August 2018 15:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

We took the train back to Bangkok after visiting Ayutthaya on 2nd class tickets.

There is not much difference between the classes except extra bolstering on the seats. We however found a more open carriage where the kids could better play, draw and read books during the ride.

There was also a bit more life here. I went for a couple of walks through the train and found a lot of interesting sights.

The carriages were open between the carriages, so people used these areas to sit sown and get some fresh air or a smoke.

There was also a section that was reserved for monks, where I got permission to take this shot.

The mail/cargo carriage was more open with this man sitting keeping an eye on things.

As we approached Bangkok the man from the little kitchen chased people away from a part of our carriage as this was his place to sleep.

26. August 2018 15:08
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

My dad's 75th birthday

26. August 2018 15:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This year it was my dad's 75 birthday. I traveled back for the party.

The party was at a little hotel (in danish called a 'Kro') at Soroe.

While there I also got to see the new house they are living in.

26. August 2018 14:08
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Thailand - Floating market

26. August 2018 14:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

The floating market is 2 hours drive south of Bangkok. We made a bargain with a taxi driver to drive us all there in a minivan. In the process he tried to take us to the wrong place 5 kilometers from the market and tried to rip us off by saying we should pay an exorbitant amount to take a boat from there - Kim and I had been there before and remembered that it was possible to drive there. With the assistance from Kim's colleague, the driver was put in his place and took us to the right location, so we still came out ahead and it turned out to be a nice day trip.

The market is very much for tourists these days, but they still have the original boats selling food, although the market itself is all souvernirs.

It is however interesting to observe the other tourists and I managed to capture a couple of good moments.

26. August 2018 14:08
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Bangkok

26. August 2018 14:08 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

After Laos we went back to Bangkok.

Bangkok is much the same, however it feels a lot cleaner with regards to smoke from all the bikes, but the traffic itself is horrendous.

The tuk-tuks are still there, but they try to charge exorbitant prices, so it was far cheaper and more convenient to get a taxi.

As usual there are still lots of interesting choices for food, such as braised pigs head.

Or Scorpions (which are mostly sold to tourists)

When it comes to shopping, Kim was in shoe shop heaven.

The boys however was in their own upside down ice cream heaven.

The nightlife is also much the same, with the more relaxes and romantic atmosphere along the river.

As opposed to the more thrashy massage parlour atmosphere just around the corner from our hotel.

While we were there it was childrens week, much to the joy of the boys.

This also gave me some unique photo opportunities such as the Thai version of Wonder woman.

Evening were spend having nice dinners with friends, Kim's colleagues and by ourselves.

This photo was my all I packed for the entire trip (only thing missing is my camera and the two lenses I brought along). Everything fitted into a small carry-on backpack.

Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal

Home

15. March 1998 10:54
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Port Macquarie ( 1998 ) . . .

15. March 1998 10:54 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

During my first year in Australia, after coming from Denmark, I was contracted out to work at Port Macquarie - a quiet, but beautiful and peaceful seaside town a few hours north of Sydney. The first pictures were taken in Port Macquarie during Easter 1998.

Lance, Anne and Graham, some good friends of mine, decided to do some exploring around the area...

Graham here, on the right, The Admiral himself... (also called "Wobber") "Is that a chicky-babe in the water ?"

The photo is taken on "Kermit" (Note, the green seats...) in the river at Port Macquarie.

Lance - sleeping

Lance seasick ???? No, just a little tired !

This is one of many photos I have of Lance sleeping - he has a knack for taking a nap just about anywhere - just ask Anne! *smile*

It's a great day to sail on "Kermit".

Rene up front onboard!

Whereas, who do we have here?

Me! I love sailing, and as usual, like to be a'head' of things...

"Clear water ahead Navigator?"

"Aye-Aye Admiral!"
Graham picking on Anne!

"The Admiral" is giving Anne a good whacking.

Poor Anne...

Lance and The Admiral in front of the lighthouse at Port Macquarie

Hundreds of crabs!

In the mangrove at Port Macquarie, there are millions of these small blue crabs (Taste like shit). It's pretty amazing though - crabs do not exist only on a beach. They live wherever there is enough water and they can burrow quickly and easily away from danger.

The photo above is taken on a sandbar in the river at Port Macquarie.

There are also a lot of pelicans in Port Macquarie. I managed to get a picture of one flying. And one yawning!

There are quite a few pelicans here in Narrabeen, on Pittwater Rd - a main street near where I live. Narrabeen lakes draws its salt water from the sea, and at one point on Pittwater Rd, there is a bridge. This is where I see most of the pelicans - perched on top of the flat heads of street lights! It's quite funny to see them there, and have never managed to get a photo of this yet, as I usually see them when I am driving over the bridge.

We went bushwalking in the mountains and forests at Port Macquarie and found this beautiful rockpool. We used the opportunity to go for a swim.

Me!

Off the beaten track in the forests around Port Macquarie!

Me!

Moi!

One of the few pictures of me (as you will notice in this whole website). I tend to prefer taking pictures of other people and places - but my girlfriend is trying to remedy that! (she's still trying not get blurry pictures...)

Me
eating lunch

As you can see, this place is really good for getting comfortable, enjoying my lunch, no worries, good place to get a bit of sleep...

Me under the bushes...

Like my new haircut?

I wanted to do something radical. I needed a change, I wanted people to look at me when I was walking down the street. So decided to change my hairstyle. By the way, you like it green? I can't be a dumb blond forever...

Lance & I

A picture of Lance and I with the beaches at Port Macquarie and one of the Brothers in the background !

The hugest waves!

There was a storm in Newcastle. These were the biggest waves I had ever seen - some were 7-8 meters high. The waves were washing all the way up to where I am standing taking the picture.

The kids in the photo were waiting for a big wave to hit them and wash them into the rock pool. You know the big wave coming towards them? They were still a couple of hundred meters away from it...

Dinner with the Lenehans, Henrik & wife

Henrik, Lance and I made a bet with Anne about whether or not we would be able not to use a computer in our sparetime for two weeks while we were up in Newcastle. We accepted the bet and won it simply because it was impossible for us to lose since we didn't have access to any computers!

That meant that Anne had to cook us a dinner... Australian Style!

Who looks Aussie now?

Aussie?

We had to dress "Australian style" for the dinner (at least to start with). Reckon it is Aussie with a billabong hat? (Need some flies for the corks to chase away). But it is DEFINITELY Aussie with that holey surfie t-shirt and a Fosters (disgusting) in hand!

Henrik

Can't see, can't hear and can't talk, who am I?

No actually he was trying to wear his wife's earrings but didn't want it on a photo!

I have often said that Port Macquarie was a beautiful place, but it is much too quiet for me in the long run. Working there during 1998 was good, but I was also glad to be back in Sydney!

15. February 1998 10:54
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Anne's Birthday ( 15th Feb 1998 ) . . .

15. February 1998 10:54 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

We celebrated Anne's birthday at a restaurant called Pete's Bite. The only access to the restaurant is by seaplane or boat. It is located 2 hours north of where I live.

The food is marvelous and bloody expensive. It is definetely worth trying (once)!

Me feeling hot

It was 40-45 degrees that day and no wind so everybody moved out on the lawn in the shade of palms!

Me definitely feeling hot

So this is what a heat stroke looks like !

15. March 1997 11:14
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Narrabeen Beach . . .

15. March 1997 11:14 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Narrabeen Beach . . .

My apartment is situated right on Narrabeen beach - one of the nicer and quieter northern beaches.

Now that I've said this, you're probably wondering about that surfer in the middle of that photo... and is the wave real?

You betcha!

I even have a photo of this surfer being 'chased' by this HUGE wave, on the wall in my apartment.

Narrabeen beach

Narrabeen is renowned for its great surf and dangerous rips. Many famous lifesavers come to surf at this beach. However, usually after a big storm, the beach is closed as the waves can get pretty rough and dangerous rips pull you out to sea.

These photos were taken outside my apartment during the annual National Surf and Lifesaving competition.

Narrabeen Beach

Newer posts
1
2
...
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
Older posts

Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal

Home

7. November 2010 02:35
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Aiden 5 Months

7. November 2010 02:35 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

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).

Aiden, Mummy & Daddy

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
0 Comments

Water Portrait

3. November 2010 11:50 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

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
0 Comments

Fame - the musical

1. November 2010 09:50 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

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
0 Comments

Self Portrait

20. October 2010 11:11 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

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.

Portrait

18. October 2010 09:19
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Maroubra

18. October 2010 09:19 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

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
0 Comments

Where to...Daddy???

18. October 2010 09:02 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

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
0 Comments

Family Portaits

18. October 2010 08:46 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Sunday night Kim and I was looking after Ethan and Kayla while Chong and KC went out for dinner.

Kims dad and Dylan popped over for a couple of hours (Kims dad wanted to see Aiden ;-)) and after dinner and after Aiden was asleep I set up the studio to take some portraits of the kids. Main purpose was to experiment a little to improve my photography skills...especially my study of shadows (It is easy to light, but harder to create meaningful shadows).

Lately I have been doing more photography using all my flashes with wireless triggers to get interesting angles and effects. A couple of days ago I bought a couple of pieces of fabric in different colours (blue and red) to use as backgrounds and the following photos are a result of Sunday nights photoshoot.

I used one flash camera right in a 60*60 softbox, Hair light behind camera left snooted. In retrospect I should have taken my 3rd flash and used this to light the coloured backdrops to create better seperation...the highlights above are done in Post processing.

27. September 2010 12:21
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Fire Devil fun

27. September 2010 12:21 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

I had a bit of fun on the weekend and spent a little time using photoshop doing something different for a self portrait. Just a bit of fun for a Facebook profile photo.

It took me about 5 minutes to take the photo and about 25-45 in photoshop to modify the image.

After taking the image I modified the background, de-saturated the colours, saturated the green colours, added the cat-eye contact lenses and extended the canine teeth slightly...done! Not perfect, but good enough for what I wanted to try and accomplish.

19. September 2010 10:31
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Surf's-up at Maroubra

19. September 2010 10:31 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This week there was a big low pressure system of the coast of Tasmania resulting in 18 meter waves there. It was predicted that some of this swell would hit Sydney this weekend resulting in 3-4 meter waves on south facing beaches. This Saturday morning I went down to Maroubra to have a look...The waves weren't as big as I had expected, but there were lots of surfers there and I did manage to take a couple of reasonable photos (I may try again tomorrow).

I am sure that there were a lot of professional/semi professional surfers out there, but unfortunately I would not be able to recognise anyone. Some of the photos I took with my 28-200mm lens which is super sharp. I also took some with an old 500mm mirror lens...it is reasonable ok...but almost impossible to keep in focus.

10. September 2010 11:05
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Aiden Looks Like.....

10. September 2010 11:05 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Some people have said that Aiden looks like me (mostly) and some says that he looks more like Kim.

Here is a photo of Kim and I with Aiden as well as my mum holding me after I was born (I think):

I REST MY CASE!!!!!

Perfect Moments Photography | A Rene Pallesen Journal

Home

2. April 2016 22:04
by Admin
0 Comments

Eastertrip Oberon

2. April 2016 22:04 by Admin | 0 Comments

This Easter we rented a small cabin out at Oberon. It was a beautiful little place on top of a hill with a beautiful view.

The place was full of cattle, kangaroos and wombat holes (with wombats in them).

Along the way we stopped at Wentworth Falls.

We also went to Jenolan Caves one day.

And afterwards Kanangra walls (Lucas never made the 200m walk there...too tired from all the walking. Pity, because it was the perfect spot and light for a family photo).

Next day we tried going to the glow worm tunnel, but the easter crowds made us turn back once we approached the car park. So instead we went up to Blackheath to have a nice lunch and enjoy some of the lookouts.

Later I tried another family photo at the cabin...very windy.

Overall a nice trip and the boys had a lot of fun.

2. April 2016 21:04
by Admin
0 Comments

Eastershow 2016

2. April 2016 21:04 by Admin | 0 Comments

Again this year we went to the Easter Show the entertainment quarter. As usual it was great fun for the kids.

Especially Lucas had a blast now that he is old enough to participate.

2. April 2016 19:04
by Admin
0 Comments

Australia Day - Citizenship

2. April 2016 19:04 by Admin | 0 Comments

Australia day was a very special day this year. I have been living in Australia for over 17 years and have been waiting for the moment Denmark would accept dual citizenship.

Although I have been been calling Australia my home for a long time I am also a Dane and didn't want to give this up.

I actually thought that it would never happen, but finally in late 2015 the law was finally changed and I lodged my Australian application immediately. On Australian day I took the pledge and can officially call myself an Australian now.

Kim and the boys, KA and Aaron as well a few friends attended the ceremony.

I felt very proud and was very honoured.

And I was pampered with Australia day gifts.

7. January 2016 18:01
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Hunter Valley Christmas 2015

7. January 2016 18:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Between Christmas and New year we went to the Hunter Valley with Sasha and his family.

We stayed overnight in a cabin in Lovedale.

During the day we tasted wines at the various wineries (found some good ones).

The kids also loved playing at the cabin in the evenings.

7. January 2016 18:01
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Christmas 2015

7. January 2016 18:01 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This year we decided not to celebrate on the eve of the 24 and just stick with the 25th at KC's place (too much cooking otherwise). I was responsible for the Christmas ham (with limited success).

It was a relaxing day and the kids were very exited about their presents.

16. December 2015 13:12
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Silliness

16. December 2015 13:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

Sometimes when I am setting up for a photo especially Aiden likes to jump in a get silly.

It is a good way to test the lighting and sometimes I managed to get a 'keeper' such as this one from a few weeks back.

16. December 2015 12:12
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Christmas family photo 2015

16. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

It is almost Christmas and I've just completed our annual family Christmas photo and this is the final version.

It was an interesting process getting to this photo this year. Last year we did a photo in the kitchen of us baking a cake, but this years photo has so many more elements to it.

The idea came from a combination of Kim and my ideas. Kim wanted to do a photo of the boys through a crystal ball. I actually bought the crystal ball right after Christmas last year with this year in mind.

We did a test in front of the tree in early December which was reasonably okay, but Kim didn't like the feel to it. She wanted more snow (pretty ambitious on a summers day here in Sydney Australia).

My idea for our family photo was based on me wanting to do a story of us as a family out in a snow storm 'Looking for Santa'. I had purchased a bag of artificial snow and a Christmas cape a few months back and we had some lanterns downstairs so I pretty much had all the components in place for the shoot.

I knew I had to do it as a composite with the boys as there was no way that I would be able to get the photo with all four of us at once. We did the photo over a couple of days, on the first evening (after the kids had gone to bed) I took the one of Kim and myself holding the lantern. Once I had this photo I could show it to Aiden and Lucas so that they knew what we needed them to do (Lucas just had to copy Aiden).

I had Gaffa taped markers on the floor so everyone would know where they were supposed to stand. Inside the lantern I had hidden a speedlight gelled with CTO to make it look light the lantern was lit. We are actually lit by a large Einstein strobe also with CTO, grid and barn doors to control the spill of the light.
At the back left and right were another two speedlights providing a bit of rim light to emulate moon light.

Because of the first 'failed' attempt of the crystal ball I got the idea to extend my 'Looking for Santa' photo into Santa's shed where he would have a crystal ball where he could look at us looking for him.
This would require three components - The crystal ball, the lights from the Christmas tree to create atmosphere and then Santa himself. I created Santa by hanging a hat on a chair which was easy to light and then I had another light which I used to balance the ambient with the lights from the tree.

The final photo all combined looks like the following, but in the end we decided to just use the tighter crop in the first and final photo.

1. December 2015 12:12
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

7th Anniversary

1. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

This month Kim and I had our anniversary.

I cant believe we have been married for 7 years...still love her to bits.

1. December 2015 12:12
by Rene Pallesen
0 Comments

Aiden Graduation and Christmas Concert

1. December 2015 12:12 by Rene Pallesen | 0 Comments

It was time again for the annual Christmas concert with Aiden and Lucas' daycare.

Aiden is starting 'big' school after Christmas, so this was also his graduation.

Kim and Aiden had both practiced some dancing and songs for the concert and were both dressed up, Aiden as a doctor and Lucas as a pumpkin.

Although Aiden was very excited leading up to the concert and was telling everyone how he was going to sing and dance, he absolutely broke down once we got there overwhelmed by all the people and the noise.

It was heartbreaking to see him like that on an evening where he should be enjoying himself. He was crying and didn't want to get on the stage. Eventually we managed to get him up and he did try and participate.

Lucas on the other hand had a great time, unfortunately I didn't get a lot of photos of that because I had to try and comfort Aiden.

After the show Santa turned up wit presents for the kids and he was a lot happier again.

After that the graduates had their photos taken and had cake.

29. November 2015 22:11
by Admin
0 Comments

Ballet - Sleeping Beauty

29. November 2015 22:11 by Admin | 0 Comments

Saturday Kim and I went to the Sydney Opera house to watch the Sleeping Beauty performed by the Australian Ballet.

It was one of the better ballets we have seen. The story was great and the dancing (lots of it) was of a really high quality.

The even managed to weave in some of the Red riding hood story, Puss in boots, Cinderella and other stories.

It was beautiful to watch.

Newsletter

Thank you

Newsletter

Thank you

Newsletter

Thank you

Newsletter

Thank you

Newsletter

Thank you