Benz World Blog » Karen

Capitolio Nacional

Jason Benz — Sun, 27 Nov 2016 09:45:54 +0000

This is Karen’s photo of the National Capitol Building in Havana. It was the seat of government in Cuba until after the 1959 revolution. As of 2013 restoration began in preparation for it to be once again used for the national assembly.

Pimped Classic

Jason Benz — Sat, 08 Aug 2015 10:10:21 +0000

Karen photographed this classic car in Cuba. If anybody knows the model please leave a comment. I used fractalius and photoshop to pimp it up.

Four Decades

Jason Benz — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 00:44:42 +0000

Today I turn 40. Being Gen X not Gen Y, selfies are rare. As it is my birthday an exception was made. The photo on the left was taken while studying engineering at Nottingham. I had no plan to be an engineer or anything at that point. I had no talent for essay writing but my folks would give me some support if I studied some science. Over the next 10 years I had some interesting jobs but did not settle on a photography career until I was 30. The last 10 years have been a wonderful adventure. The Photoshop experience I gained working in a studio in the UK enabled me to get photography work in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. My sideline in travel stock photography was given a significant boost after buying this old van in 2011 as was my knowledge of practical engineering.

Mount Panorama

Jason Benz — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 04:22:33 +0000

This is the Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst. This race track is also a public road, and Karen found herself driving on it by accident the first time we drove to New South Wales from Victoria. This time it was my turn to do a lap in our van.

We have arrived in Sydney now and we have started making preparations for our flight to the UK at the end of the week.

Super Pit

Jason Benz — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 11:37:16 +0000

I took this shot of Karen at the Super Pit open cast mine in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

Do you think we should include this image in the Machanography category?

First Snow

Jason Benz — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 11:30:30 +0000

This is Karen exploring Gonerby in the UK as we witnessed the first serious layer of snow arriving today.

Trinculo Wreck

Jason Benz — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 22:47:07 +0000

On our first night out of Melbourne we free camped at the Boolarra Pub. We were warmly welcomed by publicans Ross and Robyn who we drank and danced the night away with into the small hours. The following day they treated us to a superb lunch before we set off to Australia‘s southern most point.

Last night we stayed at Paradise Beach which is one of many free camp-sites along 90 Mile Beach. This morning we made our way up the coast to this 154 year old wreck of the Trinculo which was driven ashore by a series of gales in 1871. This is Karen‘s shot of the wreck which I thought looked better than the ones I took.

Festival Cycle

Jason Benz — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:12:29 +0000

I had a phone call today telling me this image has won the Cambridge Folk Festivals Reward My Ride photo competition. The brief was to submit an image of green transport to the festival. I did not think the image was good enough for the photoblog but as its won me £300 to spend at my local cycle shop I think it has earned its place.

Cuba Buick

Jason Benz — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 11:13:39 +0000

Karen shot this 1950 Buick on the streets of Cuba. To process the image I used a similar technique to Cuba Chevrolet. I started by using the Orton Effect to give it a bit of a glow. I worked on the dusty red colour. Then I desaturated the background and darkened the edges with vignette.

Cutts Close

Jason Benz — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 11:02:49 +0000

Karen took this picture in Rutland. Snow is a tricky thing for cameras. The problem is left to themselves they often turn snow grey. This is due to the auto exposure trying to balance the tones in an image. Unless you remember to overexpose you may need to do a bit of work in Photoshop later to make the snow look like snow. I used levels to retouch this image. The upper layers darken the sky slightly in the same way you might use a Graduated Filter. The third levels layer brightens the snow without losing detail in highlights.