Epitome of the Late 19th Century American West, An In-Game Photography Project

Abstract

Focusing on Red Dead Redemption 2 and its historical context, this paper's project seeks to challenge the historical injustices against Native Americans through surrealist camera-less photography using modern technology. By analysing artworks from the period of the Westward Movement, the thesis confirms the photographic project's content, which uses the absence of Native Americans as a symbol of resistance. The essay also suggests creative methods such as the use of vintage filters in the photography to add a greater sense of authenticity. However, during the course of the project, some weaknesses of in-game photography were identified, such as the lack of randomness of key moments in the game, which negatively impacted surrealist expression. Nonetheless, it remained fascinating to use modern technology to re-record life in the American West in 1899 and display it within modern technology. This provokes thoughts about future developments and whether the development of virtual technology will lead to more virtualisation of people's lives is a question worth exploring.

Keywords: In-game photography, Photography theory, Westward Movement

Introduction

From chemicals to electronic photoconductors, the exposure time has been shortened from a few hours to a few thousandths of a second, photography is altered dramatically by the advancing of digital technology. There is a rising trend in the interest of the photography in digital game developers. At the official launch of Cyberpunk 2077 in December 2020, a first view open world role play-video game produced by CD Projekt, the developers of the game held ‘Shutterpunk2077’, a photography contest with great prizes which askes players to take photos in the game with the build in camera system (Cyberpunk2077, 2020). Furthermore, Pokémon Snap is a pure photography game developed by Nintendo in 1999, and the company has produced a new version of it in 2021 which has the same playability as the previous version (Nintendo UK, 2021). Besides these games, there are numerous other digital games that have a built-in photo mode. For instance, according to Wakeford (2019), almost all Sony games have a photo mode, even including remakes of previous games, which is difficult because many games back then were not built for this format. A photo mode seems to become a standard nowadays. However, there seems to be more potential of in-game photography, as it is one of the most advanced analogue photography.

This project deconstructs the Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) and its historical background — 1899 American west, the end of the Westward Movement via photography. I define this project as a surrealist cameraless photography project, which using modern techniques leading audiences to travel back to the 19th century. The project aims not only demonstrating the potential and the capability of in-game photography, make people think about the impact of digitalisation on photography and the difference between virtual and real, but also is a challenge of the historical injustice against native Americans and a satire on the glorification of aggression by the invaders of the time.

The first part of the essay involves explaining the theoretical basis of the project, studied articles on digital photography and in-game photography, analyses a series of conceptual photography issues on digital, discusses how in-game photography is photography, arguing the justification of the project. The second part introduces the historical background, deconstructed pieces of art from the Westward Movement, and critiquing the injustice done to Native Americans by the invaders of the time. The third part presents the idea of the shoot and the production of the photos, explains the reasons for using vintage filters, and introduces the presentation method, which is building a virtual gallery to give the viewer an immersive experience.

In the ‘Digital Maelstrom’

In 150 years of domination of photography in producing images, while facing the 'digital maelstrom', it now has lost the mechanical and chemical properties and its materiality and emotionality as a print (Giddings, 2013, p. 42). The advent of digital cameras has changed the way people take photos and how they view and read photographs, which leads to a great amount of scholarly reflection and discussions. Since the beginning of photography, the need for screens has existed, principally, it is the reason why photography was invented (Gerling, 2018, p. 150). The paper on which the photographs are printed can be seen as an initial screen. In the study of the representation of digital photography, Rubinstein and Sluis (2013) point out the crisis of representation and communication of photography when the digital screen is the medium for viewing photographs. It is indeed that digital photography is essentially different from camera photography from the technique level. A camera, the dark room, whether a film camera or a digital camera records the reflection of light form objects. Petersson (2005, citied in Rubinstein & Sluis, 2013, pp. 26-27) claims that the traditional photography is a process which using light to adjust itself, and the copy was moulded from the unstable chemical matter. On the other hand, the images produced by digital camera are fundamentally ‘0’ and ‘1’. Kittler (2010, p. 228) suggests that due to the principle of computer monitors, there are no existing things, surfaces or spaces reproduced on screens. Furthermore, Rubinstein & Sluis (2013, p. 28) explain that the reason for the pictures from the screen of electronic devices look like photographs is due to the interventions of algorithms that translate the data from the CCD or CMOS sensors of digital cameras to images that humans could read, rather than the photographs has an ontological relationship with particular objects.

For another thing, while people are still dealing with the controversies associated with digital cameras, analogue photography as a concept of purely digitalised photography brings more challenges. In-game photography is not the same as digital photography and even much more distinct from film photography. Giddings (2013, p. 42) defines the light and colour of the images from the monitor as graphic outputs from a group of ‘invisible and intangible software processes and variables.’ He emphases the significance of sunlight to photography:

If nature paints herself through the play of light across the world, through slivers of glass and into silver crystals, then the apparatus of the camera is the stuff of nature itself, fragments of wood, minerals and glass, drawing the world of which they are themselves part (Giddings, 2013, p. 43).

Giddings (2013, p. 42) uses Pokémon Snap an example, states that ‘the sun never shines on Pidgey’, because those digital images of events are rendered from a virtual world where is a dark room without sun, whether using chemical or electronic to collect light, they are not created by the sunlight form the real world.

It is indeed that digital photography and computer game photography are electronic data, however, these analyses are from an essentialism perspective, some of the facts are ignored. Cindy Poremba (2007, p. 49) defines the role of players in video games as a hybrid, that both travel through the virtual world and record it as player actually start from a camera point of view (Fig. 1). Nevertheless, nowadays in-game photo is not a simple screenshot, as Gerling (2018, p. 156) highlights that Capturing pictures in video games uses a different logic to screenshots. Today’s most in-game photographs are taken through a more advanced photo mode which builds in the gaming system. Such as the photo mode in RDR2, (Fig. 2), which provides not only the adjustments of the extent of picture distortion, the degree of out-of-focus bokeh, the contrast of the image, but also fairly free views — near ground level, drone like view up in the sky, some glitch effects through gaps and bugs in the model (Fig. 3), and some more complex effects if searching the internet for relevant player made modules. For the other thing, Giddings (2013) concludes that there is no ‘light’ in the video game world, which is essentially correct, the objects in computer games are not luminated by the solid solar, yet there are some misconceptions from the technical side — there is ‘virtual sunshine’ in the virtual world. The scenes in most video games or virtual space from 3D modelling techniques, which follows the physical laws of light in reality. The creator of a 3D scene has to add a virtual light source, a virtual ‘sun’ (Fig. 4), so that the surface of virtual objects is illuminated by the light source in order to become visible to the observer as in reality (which is also the same for the demonstration of the project). Moreover, nowadays computer games would use ray tracing technique which means that most views on screens are rendered in real time, such as the Fig. 5, with good enough hardware, it is possible to display a picture that is not far from reality.

Yet despite these, Giddings (2013, p. 45) still admits that the pictures are ‘photographs’ to the ‘photographers’, and concludes (2013, p. 54) that ‘though light is extinguished, other facets of photography persist in videogame worlds’, because these virtual worlds of video games provide lively, sophisticated and engaging experiences to players. For which Poremba (2007, p. 50) also points out the similarities between video game photography and photographic practices within the physical world, especially those with tourist attributes. As Susan Sontag (2008, p. 110) writes that ‘through the camera people become customers or tourists of reality’.

In addition, in-game photography seems to be an enhancement to photography practices in the digitalisation progress. The connection between photographs and the one is photographed is critical. Susan Sontag (2008, p. 4) suggests that ‘to photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed.’ Though, the connection between the image and an initial point in the part becomes uncertain when the image is produced digitally (Rubinstein and Sluis, 2013, p. 31). Then where does this connection exist for in-game photography? It's much easier to understand if consider it as a kind of camera-less photography. Giddings (2013, p. 51) claims that the approximative, tactile, interventional language of medical imaging resonates with the virtual imaging works. Further, even deep space photography is not about capturing light in the traditional sense but collect the data which beyond the range of light visible to the human eye. Unseen does not mean non-existent. Moreover, there is a renunciation of keeping verity in in-game photography. ‘Digitization abandons the rhetoric of truth maintained by the photograph and seeks other representational imperatives (Geoffrey Batchen, 1997, p. 211, citied in Poremba, 2007, p. 53). This severance from reality, which places it above the reality, while shaping its own reality in a surrealist way.

In this kind of surrealiy, the photograph of a virtual bird has a connection with the very virtual bird, as Barthes (1961, cited in Poremba, 2007, p. 53) states that one can questions the explanation of a photograph, but what appears in the image is indisputable. Although the in-game photography is an algorithmic interception of a segment of the program, after the algorithm has been interpreted, what one sees is indeed what the in-game virtual camera captures, and what the photographer sees. In-game photographs based on the viewpoint of the gaming space, which is similar to photography from the real world (Gerling, 2018, p. 160). Therefore, the indexicality still exists. As a matter of fact, the cameraless feature of surrealism was determined since the early stage of surrealist movement. According to Krauss (1981, p. 18), cameraless is one of the most significant forms of contemporary surrealist photography. In addition, Geoffrey Batchen (2016, p. 47) states that ‘throughout photography’s history the cameraless has always been a subversive element, an auto-critique of everything that photography is supposed to represent.’ Just as Poremba writes:

Player screenshots do not necessarily make any claim to be real photographs, and they do not have to. That they serve a similar function, accommodate expression and creative control, and co-opt the visual language of the photograph speaks to the essential photographic quality of these still images (2007, p. 53).

From these points of view, although virtual photography is fundamentally extremely dissimilar to real photography, it seems to be similar on a practical level, even strengthened photographic practices. Therefore, this in-game project is justified a photography project. Meanwhile, this project was described as a cameraless surrealist photography at the beginning, due to its cameraless character, as well as the content it presents.

‘Manifest Destiny’

‘Our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions (O’Sullivan, 1845).’ In the middle of the 19th century, the ideology of racial destiny seeped arguments about American development and the future of the American world (Horsman,1981, p. 1). It was with this belief that the American people of the 18th century started the Westward Movement. As the historian Turner writes that:

American history has been in a large degree the history of the colonization of the Great West. The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward, explain American development (1920, pp. 7-8).

The Westward Movement began in the late 18th century after American independence and ended in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Due to the limited land and resources available in the Eastern United States, a century-long westward movement was launched. Which led to the military and economic development of the United States, the development of what is now the American West, and the transformation of the United States into a major military power. However, as the Westward Movement progressed, large numbers of Indians were massacred, and the survivors forcibly removed to the more inhospitable ‘reservations’ of the west which also known as the Indian ‘Trail of Tears’. The budding civilisation of the Americas was destroyed and the Indians, one of the great races of mankind, were largely exterminated.

The RDR2 is setting in such a context, among which, the struggle of the Indians at the time is also reflected, for instance, in the destruction of Indian sacred sites, the deliberate seizure of medicines and supplies while Indians suffered from disease and hunger, and the army's attempts to provoke Indian resistance in order to carry out murders in a more justifiable manner.

Looking back at the artworks of the Westward Movement, most of them show the figures moving from right to left, such as the allegory painting, American Progress (Gast, 1872, see the cover page), naturally, left is geographically to the west, yet, in a certain degree, the ‘right’ side also symbolises the ‘correct’ or the ‘justice’ side. Vitally, the content of the works — the native American was portrayed as an enemy and a force of resistance on the road to the United States’ progress (Boehme, cited in Baigell, 1990, p. 3). The Columbia who symbolises the America brought wagons, railways, ships, electricity, light, agriculture, and education which symbolled civilisation, the Indians, on the other hand, are represented with the beasts, banished to the darkness. Moreover, The Emigrants (Remington, 1900, Fig. 6) shows a carriage being attacked by natives; And in Osage Scalp Dance (Stanley, 1845, Fig. 7), the native American is depicted as savages who murder defenceless white women and children. As Baigell (1990, p3) suggests, such subliminal drawings and vitriolic texts abounded in books, newspapers, magazines, and political speeches in the 1990s. However, as Rogin writes, America clearly began not with primal innocence and consent but with acts of force and fraud. Indians were here first, and it was their land upon which Americans contracted, squabbled, and reasoned with one another (1975 cited in Baigell, 1990, p. 3).

The paintings look extremely ironic from today's perspective, with the true beasts and savages on the right, and the victims and oppressed on the left. Using Putnam’s words:

To Turner's generation, in short, the westward movement was an external conflict between man and nature, always climaxing in the triumph of man. To the moder mind it seems more an internal conflict between man and himself, inevitably culminating in frustration. The competing values of wealth and power in a civilized setting versus freedom and innocence in a primitive one continually forced the frontiersman to make an agonizing choice (1976, pp 404).

Therefore, this project serves as a microcosm of that time, in which I decided not to show anything about the Indians, while everything is about them, such as the land where they used to live, the boats and trains that drove them away, in order to creates a sense of emptiness, as a method of showing their absence in the history and reacting to the injustice they suffered.

Virtual Gallery

‘As games grow more sophisticated, as they become both more photorealistic and more prone to spectacular and beautiful failure, does the expressive potential expand in the genre (Poremba, 2007, p. 57)?’ From today’s perspective, I think the answer is positive. As the virtual worlds could be built incredibly realistic, they have become a hyperreality for photographers to practice and visualise ideas. Although this is a re-display of virtual scenes built by others, reflecting on photography in real world, such as architecture and the reproduction of works of art, is also re-presented. As Benjamin (1996) notes in The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, photography is always reproductive. But this reproduction allows a copy of the original work of art to be seen by the wider public (Benjamin, 1996, p. 4).’ Moreover, in this kind of digital world, there are methods in which the photographer can also be involved in shaping the scene being photographed. For instances, in RDR2, via some player-made modifications (mods), I could adjust the weather and the angle of the sunlight to get the image I want. This is also one of the reasons why I claim that photographic practices have been enhanced in video games. With specific mods, in a way the game scene can be modified into a photography studio.

In addition, take photos in the history-related and reality-based games in, in a certain sense, the achievement of time travel. The photo mode of RDR2 provides multiple retro filters (Fig. 8), such as Daguerreotype, Tintype and Silver Gelatin. For this project, I decided to use the Daguerreotype, Tintype and B&W (black and white) filter on the images. First of all, the style of the filter is appropriate to the period of the project, although some of the shots are not possible in reality, such as the moving train, but I consider that this is one of the attractions of modern technology and the project — to make the viewer reflect on the authenticity of the photographs. Furthermore, the imperfections on the surface of the vintage filter can add a realistic appearance because people are already used to viewing ‘photographs. As Poremba (2007, p. 49) writs that ‘we have become so naturalized to viewing through the lens’, and highlighted that the importance of photographic 'flaws' in improving a realistic quality to games. Additionally, Giddings (2013, p. 44) suggests that the simulation of vision by computer images is not simulated biological vision, but optical vision by the camera. And that computer-generated realistic images (such as in CGI) do not replicate the real world, but rather the appearance of photographic images (Prince, 1996 and Manovich, 2001, cited in Giddings, 2013, p. 44). Poremba (2007, p. 49). And finally, it also can compensate for the lack of realistic scenes rendered in-game due to the lack of performance of the computer's graphics card. Hence, with these ‘flawed’ vintage filters it is possible to create images that can be confused with historically real photographs.

The shots mainly include western American landscapes, contemporary architecture and things with period characteristics. The general landscapes photos inspired by the grand American landscape photographs by Ansel Adams. For which I just use the colours of black and white in the landscape and used the minimum aperture for maximum clarity, based on Adams’s experience in the Group f/64; The work is also inspired by Ernst Haas with his photos of the Monument Valley (Fig. 9), which is an iconic landscape of the American West. Furthermore, the game includes some historic buildings that exist in reality, which I chose to photograph and show with comparisons to the real buildings (Fig. 10) as a way to further remove the border between virtual and real. Finally, as I stated before, the absence of Native Americans will be demonstrated by showing those foreign objects.

For demonstration, I used Unity to build a virtual gallery, to a certain extent, it is a first-view video game where the viewer can observe the works in the project. It could be arguing that using this approach to present content that is both real and fake gives audiences a more immersive experience and creates a deeper memory.

Conclusion

This paper examined the controversial issues regarding the nature of digital and virtual photography, and argued that some ideas are outdated, especially when it comes to in-game photography. In-game photography is no longer simply a screen capture, instead, it allows the photographer to enter the virtual world as a virtual avatar to work. Moreover, the essay concluded that virtual photography also has the characteristics of real photography, which is the indexicality, and in terms of practice, the virtual world enhances photography. Then, analysed a number of contemporary paintings depicting the Westward Movement, and criticises the oppression of Native Americans during that period. In which the content of the photographic project is confirmed, which is not directly to present the Native Americans, but their absence as a means of resistance. Finally, this essay confirmed the presentation of the work, which is to create a virtual gallery through Unity and use vintage filters when shooting, in order to add more realistic sense to the photographs taken in the game.

Nevertheless, during the course of the project, the weaknesses in in-game photography were identified. For illustration, the non-player characters (NPCs) in the video games are active according to a certain programme, so that the decisive moments in the game can be regarded as non-existent and any images can be reproduced by specific means. This loss of randomness has a negative impact on the expression of surrealism.

Yet, it is still undeniable that it is fascinating to use modern technology re-documenting the life in the American West in 1899 and to exhibit it in modern technology. It is unimaginable for predecessors, but the technology of the present must also look very ordinary from the point of view of future generations. Hence, I would like to raise a similar question as Poremba did bake then. As virtual technology develops and the expressive power of games becomes increasingly powerful, will people's lives become more virtual in the future, as the world depicted in Ready Player One (2018)?

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge that this article is part of the final project for the degree of MA in Photography: History, Theory, Practice at the University of Sussex. The project received no funding from any organization or institution.

I am deeply grateful for the generous assistance of numerous individuals without whom this endeavor would not have been possible. My heartfelt thanks go to my family and friends for their unwavering support and encouragement as I pursued my dreams. I owe a special debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Paul McConnell, whose invaluable guidance and insightful advice have been instrumental throughout this project. I am also indebted to my other tutors: Benedict Burbridge, whose expertise in photography theory has profoundly shaped my understanding of the subject; Cécile Chevalier and Micheál O'Connell, whose guidance has helped me integrate critical thinking into my practice; and Paul Vincent, who has strengthened my filming skills. Furthermore, I express my appreciation to the teachers at the International Student Centre at the University of Sussex, whose instruction in research methods will continue to benefit me in my future endeavours.

I am especially thankful to my girlfriend, Ning Xie, for her unwavering support during challenging times and for her assistance in visualizing my ideas. Lastly, I express my gratitude to all the individuals who have been part of my life, contributing to the unforgettable memories that I cherish deeply.

2021