Benz World Blog » Magenta

California Honeydrops

Jason Benz — Thu, 13 Apr 2017 13:59:46 +0000

It is often the bands you have never seen before on the smaller stages at festivals which impress the most. These are The California Honeydrops playing the Juke Joint of the 2017 Bluesfest. They have their own unique mix of Blues and Soul which will find you tapping your feet before you know it. (image download here) The California Honeydrops will return one last time for the final Byron Bay Bluesfest in 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.

Cat Empire

Jason Benz — Sun, 27 Mar 2016 10:38:54 +0000

This is The Cat Empire electrifying the audience on the Mojo stage at Byron Bay Bluesfest in Australia. They are a Melbourne based band whose music is a fusion of Raggae, Jazz, Dance and Ska with a distinctly Cuban feel. The performance was energetic and the infectious rhythms soon had the crowd dancing wildly as far as the eye could see. (image download here)

The Cat Empire will return one last time for the final Byron Bay Bluesfest in Easter 2025, tickets are available via the Bluesfest Website.

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

New Year

Jason Benz — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 13:01:48 +0000

Happy New Year 2016! Before Christmas we ventured north in our van without any plans for the new year again. This is Ben Beasley playing at the hideaway on Keppel Island. We stayed on the island for an extra week by helping out in the Holiday Village. We return to mainland Australia on the 3rd Jan.

Chevrolet Engine

Jason Benz — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 09:09:44 +0000

I discovered this Chevrolet Engine on display in a random car park in New South Wales. On a drive from Sydney to Southport in 2014, at some point while stopping for food, I stumbled upon the Summerland Sports and Classic Car Club.

To process this image I created a two-tone effect in the paintwork by pushing the blues towards the purples and the aquas towards the greens. This was done using Camera RAW which is the import engine for Photoshop.

Film Student

Jason Benz — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 10:35:08 +0000

I often wonder how someone ends up behind a TV camera. At the 2015 Byron Bay Bluesfest, we saw film students from the local creative media institute filming bands on the main stages at the festival.

This image is available for download 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.

Purple Skyline

Jason Benz — Tue, 08 Jul 2014 10:08:45 +0000

This evening skyline was taken in Sydney Harbour, New South Wales, Australia. To process this image I wanted to bring out the orange lights and purple sky. I started by using HSL in Camera RAW to boost the luminance and saturation of orange and a smaller boost to yellow and red to avoid posterization. I reduced the luminance of the blues, magentas and purples to darken the clouds. Finally some green tint was added to reduce the strength of the purple.

Umbrella Rainbow

Jason Benz — Sat, 28 Jun 2014 09:20:50 +0000

These colourful umbrellas were inside a building in Melbourne, Australia. My camera struggled to guess the white balance as there was very little neutral grey to calibrate with. One of the benefits of shooting in RAW is you can set the colour temperature after you take the photo. In this case I could remove the blue/green tint by increasing the red/magenta in CameraRAW. No Photoshop needed.

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

Ska Blues

Jason Benz — Sun, 25 May 2014 11:36:50 +0000

This weekend we visited the Blues on Broadbeach Festival. The last time we were here was for the Jazz Festival. This is the Melbourne Ska Orchestra who put on a high-energy rollercoaster performance. Building on a love for the music of The Specials and Madness, they have taken Ska to a whole new level. The 25-piece orchestra barely sat down for one song as they jumped around the stage and balanced on the speakers. When they left the stage they walked into the crowd and down the street while playing. I highly recommend seeing them. If you are in the UK they will be playing Glastonbury in 2014.

The Melbourne Ska Orchestra will return one last time for the final Byron Bay Bluesfest in Easter 2025, tickets are available via the Bluesfest Website.

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

Jazz Festival

Jason Benz — Sat, 17 Aug 2013 00:58:26 +0000

This is Emma Hamilton who was performing today at the Broadbeach Jazz Festival in Queensland, Australia. Broadbeach regularly puts on free music festivals including Blues, Country, Jazz and Opera to attract people to the Gold Coast.