today I’m going to tell you a story about Zilla and her trip to SE Asia.

the trip started out with Zilla said goodbye to her family at the train station in Amsterdam.

she kept her family up to date with her travels throughout Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.  pictures like her snorkeling with friends of Nemo.

pictures of her enjoying the beautiful beaches of Thailand.

Zilla even did some cultural activities by visiting a temple in Cambodia. (picture comes complete with cute little girl.)

pictures of the Buddhist temple she visited.

wait a second. that doesn’t look right. the picture in the inset looks like a garage doesn’t it?

well it turns out that Zilla never actually took a trip to SE Asia at all.  she staged the entire thing from the comfort of her home. the picture of her snorkeling with fishes? yep, that was taken in her swimming pool with the fishes added in via Photoshop. the picture at the temple in Cambodia? standard stock photograph found online and she simply added herself in via, you guessed it, Photoshop.

Zilla even went as far as to set up a stage for her “hotel” room when she Skyped with her family.  making sure to Skype with them at odd hours in the morning to help keep up appearances.

pretty crazy right?

while it was done as a project to showcase how individuals sometimes create an alternative reality on their social media platforms, it also was a brilliant example of just how much travel photographs can be edited to showcase what the “photographer” wants you to see.

if you want to read more about it, check out this article on the Huffington Post.

All images courtesy of this Mail Online article.