The Art of Video Game Photography

Video Game Tourism has an interesting article about the growing art of video game photography, or artistic snapshots captured in the virtual worlds of games:

Games are spaces of experience as much as entertainment. It shouldn’t surprise us that the photographic gaze, that eye for composition and purely visual aesthetic, finds ample opportunity for snapshots in these virtual spaces. In fact, it’s surprising that in-game-photography – for purely aesthetical reasons as opposed to documenting victories or snapping a pic of an impressive vista for use as a desktop wallpaper – is still as unexplored a country as it still seems to be.

[…] The art of in-game-photography is still in its infancy, but it seems obvious that, with constantly increasing photorealism and the popularity of open-world-games, more and more photographers will also look for inspiration and picture opportunities in virtual worlds. Games are places as well as entertainment; and after all, as Elliott Erwitt’s quote at the beginning reminded us: Photography has little to do with the things we see -, and everything to do with the way we see them.

The piece features five leading video game photographers: Duncan Harris, Iain Andrews, James Pollock, Josh Taylor, and Leo Sang. Some of their work is so eye-catching that game companies have asked to use the photos in their promotions.

The Art of in-game Photography [Video Game Tourism]


Image credits: Photographs by James Pollock and Iain Andrews

Discussion