Benz World Blog » Lightning

Mummy Cass

Jason Benz — Thu, 07 Nov 2024 22:42:14 +0000

This is Mummy Cass charging up before the 2024 Byron Bay Bluesfest. The 5000 year old reanimation process harnesses the energy from a perfectly timed bolt of lightning to bring the ancient party spirit back to the future.

There have been 70 mummies in the last 20 years. Mummy Cass is 1 of about 10 roaming mummies. They are a rare wild breed of mummy who have passed through the boarding gate. After thousands of years in a sarcophagus, most mummies are unwilling to be sealed into a jumbo jet.

This was overcome when it was discovered if 10 cats are wandering free for each mummy, they would become relaxed enough to get onboard. Once the simple process of herding 100 cats on a plane was done, the fun-funk band of coffin dodgers could go on tour.

It was suggested, if 1000 mice were released on the plane, cats and mummies would follow willingly. When Australian Boarder Force heard about this plan they deployed a highly trained team of drop bears to meet the plane on the runway.

By then the cats had taken control of the plane and were refusing to negotiate with everyone, except royalty. It was resolved when the drop bears had lunch with the mice, in return “Here Come the Mummies” and “The Cat Empire” will bring the party to Easter 2025. Tickets are available via the Bluesfest Website.

UPDATE: In 2026 Bluesfest will be the last in a line of major festivals closed from increasing headwinds. This began before covid, with the previous state government’s legislative “war on festivals“. The new government risks letting this trend continue through inaction. However, you can change this. If 20,000 signatures are received, the NSW Parliament must debate Bluesfest’s future. #savebluesfest if you live in the state Sign up here. For everyone else, there is an international petition on change.org Sign up here.

UPDATE: Due to the success of Bluesfest 2025, its future has been confirmed. Discounted early bird tickets for the 2026 festival are available here.

Summer Storms

Jason Benz — Fri, 19 Dec 2014 13:41:00 +0000

It is getting hot in Australia. In Queensland the summer storms have been rolling in most afternoons for the last fortnight. Brisbane was hit by a couple of super-cells last week, and this week it was the turn of the Gold Coast. This shot was taken from our back garden in Southport. To colour this image I adjusted the white balance to match the shade of purple I saw in the sky each time the lightning struck.

Lightning Ridge

Jason Benz — Sat, 14 Jun 2014 05:29:03 +0000

Lightning Ridge is a mining town in New South Wales. It has the planets richest deposit of black opal. This corrugated iron building was used in the film The Goddess of 1967, which is about a Japanese man who travels to Australia to buy a car.

Real Lightning

Jason Benz — Wed, 27 Nov 2013 12:36:33 +0000

This lightning strike was taken four days ago from our front balcony in Southport, Queensland, Australia. I have done one or two posts with fake lightning added with photoshop. This is the first time I have photographed lightning for real. The thunderstorms here on the Gold Coast often start in the afternoon heat. Even with the clouds there is just too much light in the sky to do the type of long exposure you need to have a chance of getting a hit. This was a 30 second exposure taken in the evening at 8:36pm

Normanton Church

Jason Benz — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:10:41 +0000

This is Normanton Church on the shore Rutland Water. I used low opacity split toning, desaturation and various blend modes to get the dramatic sky without too many unnatural colours. As all thing are possible in photoshop I added a bit of lightning too.

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.