Breaking Down my Arizona Vacation Photo Composite

I’m generally a pretty lazy person, so when I broke away from my normal Composite Photography routine for 10 days to take a family vacation to Arizona, I knew I had to create a Signature Family Portrait.

BTW… Phoenix, Arizona was awesome, and I look forward to going back very soon.

As a Dallas Portrait Photographer, I can personally say the landscape around Dallas, TX can leave a bit to be desired.

So, when the chance to leave town arises, I jump at it and take the opportunity to create a personal Photillustration for my portfolio.

Arizona Vacation

Before leaving for Arizona, I wanted to create a Composite of our vacation, but I had no idea what it would be, or look like.

This Photillustration was literally created as our vacation developed.

Everything you see in this Composite is there because we either experienced it, lived it, or saw it.

From hitting 2 birds within 30 seconds on the way there, to us kidding about strapping Luka onto the roof of our van because he wouldn’t stop talking, actually happened.

Breaking Down Arizona Vacation

Every single time I jump into creating a Photo Composite for myself, or my portfolio, I want to use fewer images and make it simple.

Clearly, my Photo Composites are anything but simple, and use many images to create.

Let’s break down this Photillustration to see what went into creating it.

#1 Chrysler Town & Country Van: We rented this Chrysler van for our trip, which was an amazing ride for over 2,700 miles.

#2 Taren Ulsrud: My wife is an excellent passenger seat driver.

#3 Car Seat: I composited in a car seat so Taren wouldn’t be floating in space.

#4 Me (Jason Ulsrud): I drove 17 hours straight to get to Phoenix, which kicked my butt.

#5 Car Seat: I composited in a car seat so I wouldn’t be floating in the van.

#6 Steering Wheel: I had to composite a steering wheel in because the windshield in the original image obstructed it.

#7 Emily Pratt: It seemed every time I looked over at my wife’s daughter, she was taking a selfie to post on Snap Chat.

#8 Emily’s Hair: I wanted Emily’s hair to look like it was blowing in the wind, so I composited a photo of her hair.

#9 Luka Ulsrud: Luka was added to the top of the van because his mouth was running throughout the entire trip, and was driving us crazy. LOL

#10 Bungie Cords: Of course I had to composite in bungie cords to tie Luka down to the roof of the van.

#11 Luka’s Flip Flop: An added detail to create action.

#12 Niko Ulsrud: My son Niko spent the entire trip in the van playing video games. He missed a lot of great scenery.

#13 Sunflower Seeds: The only thing that keeps me awake while driving 17 hours is chewing on sunflower seeds.

#14 Wilson Antenna Ball: Emily is in love with Tom Hanks, so this is an added detail for her.

#15 The Bird: On our way to Arizona, I hit two birds within 30 seconds. My wife thinks it was a birdie suicide pack.

#16 Hopping Rabbit: My mother-in-law, who we were visiting in Anthem, AZ, has rabbits that live in the park behind her house.

#17 The Road: This is a photo I took when my wife and I went out to capture stock images for this Composite.

#18 Scorpion: My mother-in-law killed a scorpion in her house while we were there.

#19 Truck: Just a stock image of a truck for the background.

#20 Landscape: This is a stock image I took for the landscape of the Photo Composite.

#21 Mountain: A stock image of a mountain I took for this Photo Composite.

#22 Road Sign: We spent a bit of time on Interstate 10.

#23 Double Cacti: This is a stock image of a cactus taken on a walk around my mother-in-laws neighborhood.

#24 Rock: A stock image of a rock I took while driving around.

#25 Lizard: This is a shot of a lizard that was on the wall in my mother-in-law’s backyard.

#26 Cactus: Stock image of a cactus in my mother-n-laws neighborhood.

#27 Sedona Mountains: We spent two days in Sedona, AZ, which was really beautiful and fun. The girls had psychic readings too, btw.

#28 Dust Devil: We saw several dust devils while driving through the Arizona highways.

#29 Buzzard: I frequently saw bunny rabbit carnage throughout my mother-in-law’s neighborhood. Just makes sense to me.

#30 Arizona Sky: While there wasn’t a cloud in the sky most of our trip to Arizona, the last two days we were there, clouds rolled in.

#31 Laying Rabbit: It was so hot in Arizona, we frequently saw the rabbits sprawled out trying to keep cool. This was really funny.

Some Composited Images

Just to give you some reference of a few of the images I used for this Photo Composite of my Arizona Vacation, here are some samples.

That’s a Wrap

As Composite Photographer, my primary goal is to create images that WOW the imagination, and are fun to view.

If you take some time to look over this Photo Composite, you’ll see things you wouldn’t with a glance.

If you’re interested in learning more about my Photillustrations, or you want to hire me for a Photillustration, please Contact Me and let’s talk.

Now, leave a comment below and share your thoughts on my Arizona Vacation.