Benz World Blog » Forest

State Forest

Jason Benz — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 23:04:48 +0000

This is the Hampton Pine Plantation near Oberon. There has been a good dose of rain in the last week which has helped suppress many of the fires in Australia. Most of the national parks in the Great Dividing Range have been burnt out leaving very few bush campsites open. To get my forest fix I am staying at Millionth Acre which is one of three sites in this state forest outside the fire affected area.

One way I will reduce my carbon footprint this year is to use altitude instead of latitude to avoid the summer heat. I am currently above the height of Snowdon in the UK (the highest mountain in Wales). In 2018 & 2019 I travelled South in the summer and North in the winter to stay in the comfortable zone which increases the number of shooting days I can do and makes #vanlife more enjoyable. This year the fires to the East and dust storms to the West will also affect my trajectory.

My next restock will be in Bathurst after the Elton John gig which sounds like it could cause traffic chaos for days.

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

Snooze Smoke

Jason Benz — Fri, 15 Nov 2019 06:39:08 +0000

The is the smoke from the New South Wales fires in Coopernook Forest. Although this forest was not on fire the smoke has been hard to avoid as it currently covers almost all of the North-East corner of the state. As I approached from the West I could see the ominous sight of smoke clouds billowing in the distance. Once I reached Australias main coastal highway (A1) it formed a uniform light blue mist. It also turned the sun a deep orange colour. The intensity was reduced so much it was like looking at a blood moon in the middle of the day. I found myself yawning and taking the odd afternoon nap. I think this is because, since I started travelling, my routine has included watching the sunset every evening just before I get into bed. The dim orange light filtering through the smoke must have triggered my brain into getting ready for sleep. Or maybe I was just being asphyxiated.

This post is exactly 10 years since I took my brothers’ advice to switch this blog to WordPress. I have never looked back as it is so much easier than creating webpages in Dreamweaver. This has allowed me to focus on my photography instead of bug hunting code.

Tomorrow I find out if all the repairs I have made to the van are enough for it to climb the Blue Mountains.

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

Protesters Falls

Jason Benz — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 22:54:35 +0000

This is Protesters Falls in New South Wales. It is an enchanting pocket of ancient Gondwanan rainforest. Through a fluke of tectonics, these world heritage sites preserve species which existed when dinosaurs roamed the earth. The waterfalls were named after the first successful anti-logging action in 1979. The area is still the centre of counter-culture in Australia and is home to some of the most colourful people, places and festivals.

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

Big Tree

Jason Benz — Mon, 12 Jun 2017 09:19:38 +0000

I think this is a Fig Tree or maybe a Springbrook Leatherwood as it was photographed in the temperate rainforest crossing Queensland and New South Wales in Australia. If you have a better idea please leave a comment.

This is 1 of 111 Stock Photos approved by Shutterstock since March, compared to only 16 in 2016.

Forest Rain

Jason Benz — Sat, 08 Apr 2017 00:07:07 +0000

This photograph was taken at Judd’s Lagoon just outside Yuleba in Queensland, Australia.

There is something magical about the light in a forest when the sun shines through the rain.

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

Solo Road

Jason Benz — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 12:12:22 +0000

This is Coopernook Forest Park in New South Wales, Australia. Normally Karen takes a photo of our van at every place we stay. As she is not here this time I thought I should keep up the tradition. In the small hours of Monday morning, I dropped off Karen at Sydney Airport. She has just started a 10-hour stopover in Dubai before her flight back to the UK. We have been getting annual return flights from the UK since we first arrived in Australia in 2011. I am not joining Karen this year to qualify for Australian Citizenship at the end of 2015. This is the first time in over a decade I have been travelling without Karen and it feels different. The last time was the lap of Jamaica in 2004. I was in the final stages of planning that trip when we first met and discovered a mutual love for travel so we arranged to journey through Cuba together and had a magical time. I am looking forward to her return to the land down under.

Springbrook Waterfalls

Jason Benz — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 12:35:56 +0000

This weekend we visited the Springbrook National Park close to the state boundary. It is a fascinating place. It lies on the edge of an ancient volcanic ridge which causes all Queenslands creeks to turn into New South Wales waterfalls.

Sky Palms

Jason Benz — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 00:37:33 +0000

These silhouetted palm trees were in Negril, Jamaica. I took this almost 10 years ago when I first started experimenting with Photography. I was using an early digital compact camera Ex-Z3 with a LCD display. This shot would be difficult with a DSLR as framing the shot is normally done with the viewfinder. Focusing the sun onto your retina is not the best way to go about improving your photography.

I plan to put up more images of the Caribbean as I move from the old website to the new blog.

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

River Torrens

Jason Benz — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:41:26 +0000

This is the River Torrens which flows past our campsite and all the way into central Adelaide. We walked into town last week following the river, and have visited the Museum and Gallery of Art with Blan, an old friend of Karen‘s mum. It must be said Adelaide has an abundance of parkland. Even the city centre itself is circled twice by a figure eight of gardens. A green belt in the true sense of the word, although I am sure it is a lovely place to live, job opportunities here seem to be fairly limited. We have booked one more week in our current campsite as we still have a few things to see and do in the city. Unless we strike lucky with a job we will probably start down the Great Ocean Drive towards Melbourne at the end of the month.

Tall Trees

Jason Benz — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:50:23 +0000

Since we left Augusta we have travelled East into the heart of Western Australia‘s forests. It’s hard to believe we will soon be crossing the Nullarbor which is named after its lack of trees. The native trees here are all types of eucalyptus but you would not know it looking at them as they vary from tall white barked trees to ones which resemble oak. This shot was taken as we cooked our diner on the free Barbecue in the National Park surrounding The Gloucester Tree which is a 61m tall tree which was regularly climbed to look out for fires. A job which is now done with light aircraft.

This image was accepted for Stock Photography at Shutterstock and is available for download here.