Benz World Blog » Brown

The Lumineers

Jason Benz — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 13:58:00 +0000

These are the Lumineers playing the Crossroads stage at Bluesfest 2017. Their music has a folky edge with stomping rhythms and acoustic riffs. Although they are not strictly blues, We were told by festival director Peter Noble that it has been about more than blues for at least 20 years. He said his guiding principle when booking bands is to find artists who make music with people rather than computers, and for that, I am eternally grateful.

UPDATE: The Lumineers will return to Australia in November 2022. 13th in Brisbane, 15th in Sydney, and 18th in Melbourne. Tickets from Bluesfest Touring.

Tasmanian Devil

Jason Benz — Mon, 19 Dec 2016 22:34:49 +0000

We met this Tasmanian Devil at Australia Zoo on the sunshine coast in Queensland. They are Australia‘s largest living carnivorous marsupial. Scientists have been calling for them to be reintroduced to the mainland however they will find that cats and foxes now dominate their space in the food chain.

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

UPDATE: After 3000 years a group called Aussie Ark reintroduced devils to the mainland in 2020.

Petra Treasury

Jason Benz — Tue, 18 Oct 2016 09:09:32 +0000

This is the Treasury in Petra, Jordan. It was made famous by Indiana Jones when Harrison Ford and Sean Connery “discovered it” while looking for the Holy Grail. It has of course been known to everyone in Jordan for thousands of years.

Dedicated to Rowan who loved this place.

Elusive Echidna

Jason Benz — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 08:10:16 +0000

I have been looking for an echidna to photograph since arriving in Australia in 2011. Echidnas and Platypus are the last survivors of an ancient branch of the evolutionary tree. Although they are warm blooded mammals they lay eggs like birds and reptiles. This was taken at Australia Zoo in Queensland this weekend. The search for a wild echidna pic continues…

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

Petra Monastery

Jason Benz — Mon, 22 Aug 2016 14:01:52 +0000

This is the Petra Monastery in Jordan. It is know as the rose city due to the colour of the rock. In 2008 it needed to be processed using HDR to get accepted by Shutterstock for Stock Photography. It is available for download here. This time I used standard tone adjustments in Camera RAW and a little split-toning to match the texture to this jungle temple. The RAW file developer in Photoshop has improved so much since this shot was taken it has made using HDR to extract detail redundant.

Cooks Endeavour

Jason Benz — Wed, 03 Aug 2016 11:06:32 +0000

This is a replica of James Cooks Endeavour. The ship was moored at the Central Pier of Melbournes Docklands in Victoria, Australia.

To process this image split toning was applied in Camera RAW.

Silverton Hotel

Jason Benz — Mon, 09 May 2016 08:36:30 +0000

This is the Silverton Hotel in outback New South Wales, Australia. There cannot be many pubs which have been in so many films they can build an awning out of its own alternate name signs. Mad Max II, Razorback, A Town Like Alice, Dirty Deeds, The Craic and more beer ads than a cane toads grandkids.

Mick Fleetwood

Jason Benz — Fri, 15 Apr 2016 13:05:39 +0000

This is The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band playing the Crossroads stage at 2016 Bluesfest. Karen took me to see Fleetwood Mac in Brisbane in 2015 but Photography was not allowed. Thanks to the festival I got this shot of Mick behind his drums using a 100-400mm from the foot of the stage.

This image is available for download here.

Cuban Music

Jason Benz — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 11:25:44 +0000

The music of Cuba is exceptional. History has made it unique. We found it in every city in the cafes, bars and on the streets. Being a musician in Cuba is considered a profession worthy of a wage from the government. I grew up in the UK where being a musician was considered a lack of profession. In 2013 Sony looked to the Caribbean for music. In 2014 a delegation from Sony visited the Cuban state owned record label with an offer of world distribution for the island’s national music archive. This week’s announcement confirmed global licensing of 30,000 songs dating back to 1964.

Split Toning was used to process this image in Camera RAW. I used the settings from this shot as it has become the most popular one from Bluesfest 2015.

Gallipoli Centenary

Jason Benz — Sat, 25 Apr 2015 02:31:30 +0000

Today is the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps in the first World War. April 25th is now known as ANZAC Day. In 2014 we attended a local service in Southport. This year we drove our van down the Gold Coast highway to the state border between Queensland and New South Wales, to see a re-enactment of the beach invasion. To capture the action I borrowed a camera rig from work (Panedia). This rig has 7 GoPro’s in a ball which can produce amazing 360 degree video.