Matt Benson

Blog Index

I'm Matt Benson, a Florida-based graphic designer and photographer who enjoys going outside and writing about it. This is where I document those adventures.

Posts tagged the real florida
Breathe
Breathe

I made a video about being present, Alex and I went camping for the first time since 2019, and Zion turned one year old!

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Florida Adventures, Video, LifeMatt Bensonjuniper prairie wilderness, florida, ocala national forest, camping, camp, woods, central florida, the real florida, adventure, travel, mamiya, rb67, 120, medium format, film, photography, video, videography, dji, mavic air 2, canon eos r, 15-35mm, 50mm, aerial, time, matt benson, opossum cake, blog, analog
A Guide to Primitive Camping in Juniper Prairie Wilderness
A Guide to Primitive Camping in Juniper Prairie Wilderness

Everything you need to know to camp in the Juniper Prairie Wilderness area of the Ocala National Forest, including parking information and trailheads, camping locations and helpful resources.

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Florida Adventures, GuidesMatt Bensonflorida, the real florida, juniper prairie wilderness, yearling trail, florida trail, photography, videography, hiking, camping, get outside, matt benson, how to, guide, primitive, backcountry, dispersed, adventure, ocala national forest, central florida
Moon Flower Blues
Moon Flower Blues

We drove to the Juniper Prairie Wilderness Friday evening with the goal of photographing white pond lilies beneath the glow of a rare “blue flower moon.”

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Florida Adventures, PhotographyMatt Bensonjuniper prairie wilderness, ocala national forest, adventure, matt benson, nikon, d610, digital, photography, stars, moon, blue, water lily, lily, flower, 24mm f1.4, iphone XR, florida, the real florida, juniper, woods, LED, lighting, night, DJI Spark, drone, nemo, hornet, 1p
The Woods is a Time Machine
The Woods is a Time Machine

This past weekend I did some time traveling. Not in the science fiction sense, where someone jumps into a DeLorean or a phone booth and leaps forward and backward in a dramatic attempt to rectify some injustice committed in an alternate timeline. No, my time travel was a little more tame than that.

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Florida Adventures, PhotographyMatt Bensonjuniper prairie wilderness, ocala national forest, florida, the real florida, artifacts, stars, photography, contrast, black and white, mamiya 7ii, 80mm f/4, film, analog, grain, tri-x, kodak, 400TX, iPhone XR, Nikon D610, Nikon 24mm f/1.4, matt benson, woods, 120, explore, national forest, Milky Way, shooting star
The Things We Carried
The Things We Carried

They warn you about the bears. They warn you about the alligators. They warn you about the rattlesnakes and the water moccasins. But they never warn you about the two guys hauling an oversized bathroom mirror miles through the brush and the thicket into the wilderness. Probably best to stay clear of those two.

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Florida Adventures, PhotographyMatt Bensonmamiya 7ii, 80mm, red filter, kodak, 400TX, Tri-X 400, 120, film, analog, medium format, ocala, ocala national forest, florida, the real florida, woods, juniper prairie wilderness, portrait, black and white, rangefinder, matt benson, photography, landscape, mirror, mamiya, pushed, 1600, grain, 6x7
Life and Death in The Prairie
Life and Death in The Prairie

I grew up in Florida. My family moved here from Cape Cod when I was seven. But I’ve always seen Florida as an unfortunate circumstance, a stain left in the carpet of my parents’ old dreams. This is the second post of my Contact Sheets series.

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Florida Adventures, PhotographyMatt Bensonphotography, black and white, film, 120, kodak, 400tx, tri-x, 400, 120 love, juniper prairie wilderness, ocala national forest, the real florida, red filter, 110mm, f/2.8, 50mm, uld, mamiya, rz67, pro, II, wide angle, water, landscape, seascape, waterscape, feathers, bear, nature, wildlife, zine, analog, matt benson, 6x7, grain, florida, public land, home, contact sheet