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DPChallenge Forums >> Photography Discussion >> Robert Overweg, Photographer In The Virtual World
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 07/16/2010 05:23:13 PM · #1
Overweg dwells through the virtual worlds of first and third person shooter games. He looks into the similarities, differences and borders between the virtual and the physical world. Borders which are being tested and stretched by Overweg.
//www.robertoverweg.com/
//shotbyrobert.com/wordpress/
 07/16/2010 05:35:26 PM · #2
Screen captures of 3d artwork = photography? Don't let bvy see this. :P
 07/16/2010 07:53:15 PM · #3
Cool stuff. But really, isn't it a little preposterous to call it photography?
 07/16/2010 08:57:02 PM · #4
Originally posted by mycelium:
Cool stuff. But really, isn't it a little preposterous to call it photography?


Indeed.. Perhaps electrography would be more appropriate..

Message edited by author 2010-07-16 20:57:15.
 07/16/2010 09:42:28 PM · #5
Not photography... cool stuff, but it's NOT photography. That's like calling baseball the same game as tennis just because you hit a ball in both games.
 07/17/2010 11:31:09 AM · #6
Calling that photography is hilarious. Wow, what talent he must have to hit "Print Screen" at just the right moment :-P
 07/17/2010 12:28:41 PM · #7
Proof that it's better to have a gimmick than to have talent.
 07/17/2010 01:13:10 PM · #8
Originally posted by kirbic:
Calling that photography is hilarious. Wow, what talent he must have to hit "Print Screen" at just the right moment :-P


What's funny is I used to do this ALL THE TIME when I was a kid.. I loved collecting screen shots, the more insane the better.. *shrug* I just don't see that this guy is offering anything new really.
 07/17/2010 01:25:51 PM · #9
Originally posted by coryboehne:
Originally posted by kirbic:
Calling that photography is hilarious. Wow, what talent he must have to hit "Print Screen" at just the right moment :-P


What's funny is I used to do this ALL THE TIME when I was a kid.. I loved collecting screen shots, the more insane the better.. *shrug* I just don't see that this guy is offering anything new really.


Cut him some slack. On some of those shots he had to pause the game and then enter a noclip cheat just so he can access areas of the map that are normally unplayable. He's not only a photographer but an adventurer too. I bet he had to wait all day for the perfect light on those urban landscapes...
 07/17/2010 01:53:19 PM · #10
Originally posted by yanko:
Originally posted by coryboehne:
Originally posted by kirbic:
Calling that photography is hilarious. Wow, what talent he must have to hit "Print Screen" at just the right moment :-P


What's funny is I used to do this ALL THE TIME when I was a kid.. I loved collecting screen shots, the more insane the better.. *shrug* I just don't see that this guy is offering anything new really.


Cut him some slack. On some of those shots he had to pause the game and then enter a noclip cheat just so he can access areas of the map that are normally unplayable. He's not only a photographer but an adventurer too. I bet he had to wait all day for the perfect light on those urban landscapes...


I honestly hadn't thought of that! No wonder he got a fellowship... I've been inspired by his work to do freeze frame captures of my favorite TV shows and movies. Perhaps I can turn it into a paying gig also.

I don't see this as photography, or even virtual photography, or really as any kind of art on his part. When ray tracing programs were popular, and people were creating virtual worlds, I saw that as creative, and as a form of art. He is merely using software to capture a copy of someone else's creative efforts. To me it is no different than taking one of the images off this site, and posting it elsewhere as my "virtual" photograph.
 07/17/2010 02:58:28 PM · #11
I think when architects design buildings, and contractors build them, and businessmen populate them, that I had absolutely no creative input in any of that, and yet, when I photograph a cityscape, the work is mine.

I think I had nothing to do with the creation of Yosemite, or of Cape Cod, but I think when I photograph them the work is mine.

I think what Overweg is doing is remarkable, and I applaud it. I think it's very good work. I believe that anybody who thinks that every "scene" available in these virtual worlds is somehow scripted, doesn't understand the worlds at all, and i think that putting oneself in the persona of a traveler in a virtual land, recording what one encounters, is a viable and fascinating bit of creative work.

R.
 07/17/2010 04:12:59 PM · #12
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
I think when architects design buildings, and contractors build them, and businessmen populate them, that I had absolutely no creative input in any of that, and yet, when I photograph a cityscape, the work is mine.

I think I had nothing to do with the creation of Yosemite, or of Cape Cod, but I think when I photograph them the work is mine.

I think what Overweg is doing is remarkable, and I applaud it. I think it's very good work. I believe that anybody who thinks that every "scene" available in these virtual worlds is somehow scripted, doesn't understand the worlds at all, and i think that putting oneself in the persona of a traveler in a virtual land, recording what one encounters, is a viable and fascinating bit of creative work.

R.


Well there is also found art... Basically we have two issues here. Is his work a form of photography and is it art? I think I'm inclined to say it's art and I hope he gets famous for it cuz I apparently already have a few of Overwegs orignal captures stored on one of my old hard drives back from 2004...

Message edited by author 2010-07-17 16:13:37.
 07/17/2010 04:19:08 PM · #13
Originally posted by yanko:
Well there is also found art... Basically we have two issues here. Is his work a form of photography and is it art?


Whether or not it is "photography" is a fascinating question, insofar as the essence of "photography" lies in its capacity for recording scenes.

But whether or not it is "art", of course, is a much more relevant question. I'm not sure, personally, that I'd classify what Overton does as "found art" any more than I would what a landscape photographer does. For me the essential quality of found art is that it incorporates the removal of physical objects to another place and setting them up to be viewed as "art"...

R.

Message edited by author 2010-07-17 16:32:41.
 07/17/2010 09:52:47 PM · #14
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
I think when architects design buildings, and contractors build them, and businessmen populate them, that I had absolutely no creative input in any of that, and yet, when I photograph a cityscape, the work is mine.

I think I had nothing to do with the creation of Yosemite, or of Cape Cod, but I think when I photograph them the work is mine.

R.


Sure--Overweg gets the credit for the composition, and many of them are outstanding. He's got a great eye and has used it in an interesting and thought-provoking way.

However, a major distinction for me is that Overweg is taking screenshots of a 100% fabricated environment, where not just the buildings (or what have you) are created by a third party, but so are foreground and background elements and the lighting.

Of course, when you take a picture of Half Dome, all the rest of the scene (trees, water, sky, lighting, whatnot) are already there, and when you go to post-processing, you didn't build your computer or write the PP software, either. But your own involvement is much greater than loading up a program, browsing around the objects populating a 3D engine, and hitting "print screen."

Interesting and thought-provoking though it is, I have trouble taking Overweg's work seriously. If it were mine and getting the attention that his is, I'd consider it a private joke. Sure, I'd ride it for whatever it was worth, but I doubt I'd be able to shake the feeling that I was getting away with something.
 07/17/2010 09:58:32 PM · #15
My mother is a well-known sculptor in Mexico, and she'd constantly drag me to art shows in NY, and we'd have this argument as long as we were together: yes, but is it ART. I also applaud any artist who makes a living at their passion. But I don't always like what they do. C'est la vie.

FWIW, and as I wrote before, Overweg's work seems more of a gimmick to me. Some of his "real world" shots are interesting, but I've seen way more interesting stuff here on DPC.
 07/17/2010 10:02:14 PM · #16
Originally posted by mycelium:
Sure--Overweg gets the credit for the composition, and many of them are outstanding. He's got a great eye and has used it in an interesting and thought-provoking way.

However, a major distinction for me is that Overweg is taking screenshots of a 100% fabricated environment, where not just the buildings (or what have you) are created by a third party, but so are foreground and background elements and the lighting.

Of course, when you take a picture of Half Dome, all the rest of the scene (trees, water, sky, lighting, whatnot) are already there, and when you go to post-processing, you didn't build your computer or write the PP software, either. But your own involvement is much greater than loading up a program, browsing around the objects populating a 3D engine, and hitting "print screen."


I understand what you're saying, and I suspect we're in complete agreement with each other. Let me make an important distinction here, for the record:

My statements were prompted by a sense I was taking from the thread that people think Overton's work is a joke, and that it in no way qualifies as "art", whatever that is. I disagree with this. Vehemently. I think it's a lot more interesting and valid, as art, then a great deal of what passes for art these days. But do I think it's "great" art? No, not especially. It's conceptually interesting to me, but ultimately unsatisfying.

Nevertheless, I think that, more and more, there is a conflation of the real and virtual worlds in our lives, and I think the exploration, in the visual arts, of where they intersect, so to speak, is a valid endeavor...

R.
 07/17/2010 11:11:34 PM · #17
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
Nevertheless, I think that, more and more, there is a conflation of the real and virtual worlds in our lives, and I think the exploration, in the visual arts, of where they intersect, so to speak, is a valid endeavor...R.


I agree with you wholeheartedly that exploration is the lifeblood of an artist. Without it, we are nothing. Or worse, we are boring.
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