Pixel Reverie
"The Last Of Us ll"
2023
This project transcends the boundaries between the digital world and the real world. And that got me thinking, is this real photography? My answer is that game photography is both real and unreal.
From a subjective point of view, I spent a lot of time and effort adjusting the in-game camera mode aperture shutter ISO options to get what I thought was the perfect shot. To get closer to the real thing, I took a second flip with a film camera, then developed the film, and took the photo again in a darkroom using an enlarger to get a physical paper copy, so the game photography is real.
But from an objective point of view, game photography relies on the in-game camera mode. Although the game itself is real, being created by the software, the in-game world is virtual, and the time in the game is not the same as the time in the real world. So, the moment I take a picture in camera mode in the game is not the same as the moment I take a picture with the film camera in the real world; they are not the same picture. Thus, game photography is not real. I am just re-taking the photos to make the game photography as realistic as possible.