Friday, April 15, 2011

Monday, April 11, 2011

This is animal abuse.





To look at her is actually quite painful.
Cassie, a seven-year-old border collie from Kenilworth Warwickshire, England weighs three times more than she should and has never eaten normal dog food before.
The hefty hound, who is too fat to stand up to eat and suffers painful bed sores all over her body from lying down too often (which is why they had to shave her down), lived alone with her elderly female owner – who regularly served her gut-busting treats like fish and chips on Fridays and full roast dinners on Sundays.
It took three people to lift the chubby canine, who can barely walk, out of the car when she arrived at the Dog’s Trust Re-homing Center two weeks ago after her owner fell ill. It is here that the staff has been given the task of helping Cassie, who weighs as much as a snow leopard and even teen sensation Justin Bieber, to slim down so she can be re-homed with a loving family. They fear however, it will take them at least a year to accomplish the task..
And there’s good reason for concern–years of unhealthy eating has left Cassie over three times the weight she should be – she tipped the scales at 58kg, when she should be 18-20kg – and now she has been forced to go on a strict diet by staff, who say that she faces the same health problems as an obese human.
Staff at the center had to fight back tears as they were greeted by the unbelievable sight before finding out the obese animal had never eaten any dog food and instead woofed down sweets, chocolate, crisps, and fry-ups.
She has sadly had to have all the fur on her body shaved off so staff can treat the bed sores on her skin properly – leaving her looking in a sorry state.
Dogs Trust Kenilworth manager Sandra Wilson said: ‘Cassie initially turned her nose up at the wet and dry dog food we gave her because it’s not as tasty as the human food she’s used to but she’s getting better.”
?Staff take Cassie out for short three-minute walks – any longer and she gets breathless – in an attempt to shed the pounds.
Though she admits the staff have a long road ahead of them, Wilson remains hopeful: ‘Once she’s healthy enough to be re-homed Cassie will need loving but responsible new owners who can resist those big brown eyes pleading for treats and will take a tough love approach to ensure her weight loss.’
Story By Elaine Furst For Dog Files

Saturday, April 2, 2011

The Land of Northern Lights

Ok folks, this is it. Here is my first video project.

It is a timelapse video of the Northern Lights. All sequences are shot in or close to Tromsø in Northern Norway.

I have spent over 6months collecting footage for this, I have shot approx 50.000 stills to choose from in making this video. A goal for me has been to try to preserve the real-time speed of the northern lights, or come as close as possible, and present it the way I experienced it, instead of the northern lights just flashing over the sky in the blink of an eye. It may work on other time-lapse videos with fast moving clouds and sunsets etc, but with the northern lights in focus, it should be presented in it's true speed to reflect her beauty, imo. In the video I have put together a collection of slow moving auroras in the woods, over the mounatins, in the city, in the foreshore, reflected in the sea, with some of the most spectacular and strongest auroral outbreaks seen in many years. Included here is a coronal outbreak, in which I am particularly happy to present, since it is very difficult to get on stills, even worse on "film".

I got a fantastic soundtrack made for the video by local musical talent in Tromsø; Per Wollen. A Huge thanks goes to you Per obviously! The audio track "Aurora in the sky" can be found on iTunes.

Also, with two small children at home under 2 years, it goes without saying I could never have done this without the fantastic understanding and help from my girlfriend. This has been an insanely time-consuming project. Both hours after hours out in the cold, but also all the hours in post-processing during late nights has led to a severe lack of sleep. And although you always feel like there is something you could have improved, even slightly, before releasing, you come to a point when you just have to finish. And that time is now.


I hope you have a large HD monitor to really enjoy this.



In The Land Of The Northern Lights from Ole Christian Salomonsen on Vimeo.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Hond op volle zee gered van afgedreven puin



http://www.deredactie.be/permalink/1.994232
Three weeks after the tsunami, Japanese rescue workers found a dog riding the floating roof of a house, miles out at sea. Video at the link.