Benz World Blog » Apocalypse

Forgotten Oceans

Jason Benz — Thu, 27 Jul 2017 22:40:01 +0000

This is a composite of seven images blended in Photoshop. The ocean photography is from parts of the Caribbean in the Global Reef Record. Most of the work I do at Panedia is aimed at helping The Ocean Agency raise awareness of what is happening underwater. One of the challenges is the seas are easily forgotten. People generally don’t spend much time down there. It is out of sight and out of mind, so weeks, months and years can go by without considering the impact modern life has on this worlds oceans.

In 2012 Australia took a big step forward in creating the worlds largest marine park. Unfortunately this protection is under threat. In 2017 the federal government announced draft plans to allow long-line fishing and damaging seafloor trawling to take place in large areas of Queenslands Coral Sea and the waters off the coast of Western Australia, New South Wales and the Northern Territory.

The director of the Centre for Marine Futures at the University of WA said “The proposed protection zones for the Coral sea ignores all the science about what is needed to ensure we have healthy oceans and also ignores the government’s own risk assessments on what activities are compatible with conservation,”

Cane Toad

Jason Benz — Sat, 25 Feb 2017 22:20:03 +0000

This amphibian was photographed at Judd’s Lagoon in Queensland. It has been identified as a juvenile cane toad on Frogs.org.au. I suspect it marks the front line in their colonization of Australia. The story of how cane toads got here is an object lesson in the unintended consequences of introduced species. They arrived in 1935 following the apparent success of these toads saving sugar crops from beetles in Puerto Rico and Hawaii. Australia proved to be paradise for the cane toad, and they set about eating rodents, reptiles, other amphibians, birds, bats, invertebrates, plants, dog food and even ping pong balls. In fact anything they could fit in their mouth apart from the cane beetle that they were introduced to control. A single toad can produce 500,000 tadpoles in her lifetime. Native animals suffered a triple whammy. If they could avoid being eaten by the toads they would find their own food supply depleted by them. They die if they eat the toads because the skin is toxic and glands behind the eyes secrete a milky white poison which is strong enough to kill a human.

Close Encounter

Jason Benz — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 07:26:20 +0000

For the American presidential election, I created this composite of images pulled off the internet. Photoshop was used to blend them together.

Climate Change

Jason Benz — Sat, 21 Nov 2015 09:35:49 +0000

We saw this grass fire on The Spit this morning on the way back from cycling to the post office. Apologies for the quality as I only had my 8 year old N95 phone to take this picture. Queensland is currently experiencing +10C above average temperatures. Despite seeing plumes of smoke drifting over our house in Southport, this has not been the most alarming effect of climate change I have seen this week. For the last few years I have been working for a 360 degree photography specialists called Panedia. My main project has been producing content for the Global Reef Record. I have processed over 1 million images in Photoshop to create a control base line for coral reefs around the world. A handful of reefs have been re-visited. In preparation for COP21, I processed 2 sets of images from Kahaului Point in Hawaii taken 10 weeks apart. If I had not checked the GPS myself I would not have believed it was the same reef. The extent of coral bleaching was frightening. I saw a lush oceanic forest transformed into a dying sea bed.

360 Before / After Coral Bleaching hyper-lapse video

Swimming Pyramids

Jason Benz — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:12:00 +0000

This was created by compositing three separate images. The Pyramids of Egypt, The Seas of Dahab and Rutland Water. Many adjustment layers and masks were needed in an attempt to balance the shot as each component was taken with different lighting conditions at different angles with different cameras in different countries.

Future World

Jason Benz — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 03:17:02 +0000

It took 2 satellites 16 days to create the original image. Fortunately it is in the public domain so It is fine to use it. Rather than the traditional Blue Marble I wanted to age the earth and give it an apocalyptic look. I used adjustment layers with masks to alter different areas of the planet. I then reduced the opacity of each layer until they looked suitably polluted or deforested.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

Pyramid Lightning

Jason Benz — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 15:25:10 +0000

These are the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Lightning is hard to shot during the day. You need a very long shutter speed to stand a chance of catching a strike. But when you point at the sky it does not take long to overexpose even with the smallest aperture. This shot was taken through the window of a moving bus so I relied on this technique to get my lightning. I discovered this image has sparked a debate on the bitcoin forum between physicists and the alien theorists.

This image has been accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography and is available for download here.

It has also been used on page 33 of The Sun Despite me telling the news agency the lightning was photoshopped the daily mail claimed it was real.