Travels with Mandy by auntietk
Open full image in new tab Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.
No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
Five photographs, lots of filters, and hours of fun! Usually when I do a montage like this I pay attention to scale, shadows, direction of the light ... all the things that make a manipulation believable. In this one I purposely picked out shots with different light sources, played a little with scale, and then filtered the whole thing to be more like a drawing than a photograph.
Zoom will give you a better feel for all that business.
..........
So far this trip has been a tapestry of contrasts. Ocean beaches, mountains and deserts, palm trees, golf courses, ghost towns, and rust. Visits with friends and family are punctuated by weeks when we don't see a single familiar face.
This piece includes a county park at Lake Cahuilla in the Imperial Valley ... palm trees, gated communities, money up to here, and irrigated crops in the desert. The cactus are from the Annenberg gardens ... more money, more irrigation, more lush life.
The house is from Bodie, a gold-mining ghost town that is now a California State Park where you pay $7.00 to walk around a town that's slowly sinking back into the earth.
Jerome, Arizona is home to more gold-mining history and lots and lots of rusty trucks.
Mandy determines much of what we see and what we miss. If it's too hot to leave her in the car, we don't go. If they don't allow dogs, we don't go. We see things that don't take longer to visit than the limits of Mandy's bladder, and love to find places where we can take her in her stroller so she can enjoy the scenery with us. She likes riding along, seeing the world from the great height of three feet.
She's a wonderful little traveler, and rarely complains. Her favorite place is a soft, sandy beach (the picture of Mandy is from the Pacific Ocean), where she can run as much or as little as she wants.
We're in Arizona now, enjoying a rare day of rain. (Well, I'm enjoying it! Bill is bundled up in his sweats, talking about hitting the hot tub.) :P
If you're interested in following along on our journey, you can check out our Photoblog. (Look or not, comment or not ... it's only to let people keep track of where we are if they're interested.) We expect to be back in the Pacific Northwest some time in May.

Comments (24)
Wow! You did an excellent job!
I am amazed at the skill and patience that have to be involved with this. The results are spot on with your intentions. Bravo! :-)
An amazing job you did with this compilation. Very interesting and well worth the zoom. Rick
Wow! This is so complex and yet so simple, a really well-executed and sophisticated neo-primitive piece of art. You have depths yet unplumbed!
Nifty composite auntie. And the filtering lends it so much more.
Very nice job. Thanks for the explanations.
do look wonderful looking
Wow!!!! Masterful work. This one is really amazing. This might be your best ever!!
Very cool work Love how Mandy controls the most important aspect of your travels
Really charming ,Tara . Beautiful work!
This is a really fun montage of your travels, Tara - and of course, it's even better with little Mandy. It must be quite an adventure for her, as well as for you and Bill!
Nice work Tara!
I am filled with admiration of your skills, Tara! The result is seamless and convincing, and yet has that theatrical quality which I find so exciting. Mandy is a lucky woman!
Outstanding composition. Beautiful work.
Your manufacturing skills are wonderful Tara, I would not have known. Great that you are enjoying your Grand Tour.
Wow you did a great job !! I wouldn't even know where to begin ! :)
Amazing work Tara. God bless.
WOW Tara! THis is just brilliant. You have really don a marvellous job here. And little Mandy is there too. Love it !!!!!!!!!
Interesting postwork !
Mornin', just another day Happy people pass my way Lookin' in their eyes I see a memory I never realized How happy you made me, oh Mandy....., Barry Manilow
aha, must be a nice photo and now its art! ... about contrast and fog - was not easy but i had on hour time to try...
Great job Tara. So how did you like our rain? I had 2.7 inches from Friday until today, Sunday at my house, the most in the 40 years I have lived here. The Greater Phoenix area was averaging about ~ 2 inches plus, with some areas close to 3 inches. That may not sound much to you, but keep in mind that Phoenix only receives about 6.5 inches on average per year. The last two years, 2011 and 2012 we only received about 3.5 inches each year total. So this was a big thing for us, especially because it was statewide. Our water supply comes primarily from mountain runoff, especially snow pack runoff that is captured in a number of reservoirs along the Verde, Agua Fria and Salt Rivers.The cold temperatures must remind of Washington!
Marvelous work!
I love this compilation and ditto the remarks of the other commenters...Thanks for sharing your artistic talent.