Portraits of People Playing Video Games



I'm not saying my gameface is pretty, but these pictures of people playing video games are hilarious. From now on I'll be gaming all alone, far from a camera. Photographer Phillip Toledano took these way back in 2002 in an effort to capture "[c]haracteristics that are usually secreted from the world." I'm going to say he pulled an epic pwn, at least in this round. You can check out the rest on Flavorpill. Link

Image: Phillip Toledano

These would make for good captions; despite the fact that these people are "playing" they appear to be incredibly stressed, in a heightened state of arousal, anger, rage, determination, necessity! I must win. "You filthy swine! I shall smite you with the holiest of holy. Wipe you off the face of the earth!" "DIE!" "DIE DIE DIE!"

I can see it in the face, you know. I used to have this feeling too, like when I'd stomp on a bug just for the thrill of killing something. Or break twigs just for the thrill of destruction. It's a bit of ancient wisdom that we rather enjoy vicariously watching others die, but when asked about it, we will put on an innocent face and say "No, I love." but that is only because that looks good and makes others want to love us. The human psyche could be said to want all love for itself, and seeks to deprive others of that love, even to the extent of killing them.
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I guess, as the OP implies, that was the point, to reveal the "secreted" [hidden] emotions of humanity at large.

“I’ve never been very interested in straightforward portrait photography… What of hidden emotions and feelings? Characteristics that are usually secreted from the world? How do we record those? I wondered if there was a way to unconsciously tease out aspects of people’s personality, and capture it on film. So I had them play video games.”

Right, because all you get from "straightforward" portrait photography is the false ego.
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It would be interesting to know WHICH game they were playing. I think the facial expressions would be very different depending on whether the person was playing, say, Super Mario Bros compared to Call of Duty.
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@Craig

I would suspect that as well. It is interesting to note that the vast majority of video games are simulations of war, killing, hate, anger, violence, etc...

Some of the reactions, those of elation, may be of people playing Mario Bros or something, but keep in mind that even Mario Bros is essentially a violent game wrapped in rounded character models with simple shapes and colors. This gives the appearance of something else, but the dynamic is still Good vs Bad in a bloody battle. Even if it only dimly appeals to humanities desire to kill, it is still the main force of the game-play.
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Video game designers are racing to create characters that feel real.

Human emotions are expressed pretty much by every single part of our body. There is a good amount of stress involved while playing.
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