Monday 19 January 2009

Robbie Cooper.

I used to own a playstation, a PS2 I think it was. I'd convinced myself at the time that one of the main reasons I was getting it was to use the DVD player feature. I was soon to get sucked into it's lair. It was a time when I had given up on photography, worked in a pub and smoked way too much weed. Driving games where my poison, I'd sit up till 4am watching my imaginary car going round and round. Then one day I snapped out of it, I took the thing, complete with the games down to Cash Generator and picked up a camera again.

Well that's my little cautionary tale over.

The phenomena of computer games doesn't seem to be loosing any strength, they are now as much part of mainstream western culture as film, and as such many photographers/artists have rushed off to make work about the subject. Nothing wrong with that they should, It's a very contemporary subject that should be explored fully. So what I'm saying is I've seen the "Gamer" photographed many times, and no doubt even a I speak (write) someone somewhere will be scribbling a message to self in a note book "Do series on gamers".

Well by all means go for it, perhaps as photographers we are getting a little too concerned with never repeating ourselves, always feeling like we have to come up with something new. Perhaps sometimes though you can repeat, and just do it, well really really well. Perhaps setting the bar that will be the measure of all photography about Gamers.

I think Robbie Cooper's "Immersion" is going to take some beating though...........

See the brilliant little film above and here for his website www.robbiecooper.org

3 comments:

Benjamin said...

Mark totally agree ... just because someone has scored a top score doesn't stop someone else coming alomg and trying to do better ... I've seen it before is the tired critics reponse ... we all have to try and 'make it new' of course, but we're all standing on the shoulders of giants

mark page said...

Thats right, though it is a balance between trying to improve, and jumping on the bandwagon/lazy ideas, which as I'm sure you'd admit is too easy to find by looking at certain blogs, as I guess I'm trying to point out with my posts about "cliches of photography" although that's a little tongue in cheek!

harlan erskine said...

hey Idid a little survey on this subject here:

http://www.harlanerskine.com/blog/2008/11/video-gamers-as-subjects.html