Street photographer and avid gamer Fernando Pereira Gomes recently had an idea that led to some fascinating results while roaming the streets of Los Santos in Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V. “Being a big fan of GTA, I went to the midnight launch and played the night away. As I played, I noticed that the characters had cameras on their phones. With this new tool, and the huge world of Los Santos, I started experimenting with the camera and the digital streets, Gomes said on his blog. “What I found was remarkable. The game is so realistic that it felt like being in the streets outside, running around for shots, anticipating passersby’s movements and reactions. In a way, it was also incredibly frightening that these algorithms could look so real, or is it that we ourselves are becoming ever more algorithmic?”
What Gomes has captured is the perfect example of why GTA V is such a special game — the citizens of GTA V act not like characters in a video game, but people going about their daily lives in an actual city. “I’ll go on long walks, and sometimes I’ll find a background on the street that really pleases me, and maybe I’ll hang around there and see if anything interesting happens,” explains Gomes. “I can’t go out and look for the photo — you have to anticipate what is going to happen around you, and you have to react to it with your camera.”
For more of Gomes’ work, check out his Tumblr page. And remember kids, GTA V isn’t all about stealing cars and causing mayhem…okay, it’s mostly about that, but there’s some beauty in there too.
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