From 'Welcome to Photography Week' by Holly Green, Game Developer Community Editorial Coordinator

Photography has become one of the most popular ways we interact with video games. Through the simple act of taking a photo, photography games and photo modes implore us to notice our surroundings, document our experience, and take a moment to commit to memory the images and emotions that we felt along the way.

To better explore those connections and mechanics, Game Developer is publishing a series of new articles digging into the topic, and highlighting some classics as well. Come along with us as we take a look at the history of photography in video games and its popular uses within the genre and preview the new interviews, essays, and deep dives publishing in the days to come.

We’ll be highlighting reader-submitted articles throughout the week and there’s tons of great stuff to look forward to, like an essay from Beasts of Maravilla Island developer Michelle Olson about eschewing photographic critique, an interview with the developers of Texas Chainsaw Massacre on why they went with the free release of an idyllic photography minigame as a prequel to their horror title, and a poignant feature from our senior editor Bryant Francis on what basic photography tips can teach us about making better photo modes.

We’ll also be revisiting interviews, blogs and features from Game Developer’s recent past, unearthing postmortems from games like Pupperazzi and TOEM as well as interviews with indie developers about how they’re using photography in video games. Stay tuned for insight on how these games are put together and the features that developers find vital to the photography game experience.

If this topic fascinates you, there’s still time to submit an article to our blog section about photography games and photo modes in video games.

Take a peek at our blog submission guidelines and FAQ, head over to our blog submission page and send us your thoughts.

From 'The eye of the beholder: Measuring player success in photography games' by Michelle Olson

While scoring photos as a mechanic does provide extra feedback on the player’s actions, and can create ways for content to be gated or progression to be measured, it creates a very specific mindset when one is taking photos in the game.

To me, this type of photography feels more like client work, rather than artistic expression. Not only is there a prompt of what to take a picture of, but there are strict guidelines on how that subject should be photographed.

While Pokemon Snap offers some variety by providing different opportunities to photograph the same subject in different environments, players aren’t able to have full freedom of composition.

In fact, there are often ways to achieve the “best” shot - a particular photo of a particular behavior that will always be worth more points than any other photo a player takes with the same subject. While these moments are often adorable and lovely, it creates an opportunity where one very specific composition is incentivized, and disincentivizes taking other interesting photos of the same subject.

This is a totally valid way of approaching this type of gameplay - to give a prompt, and ensure the player captures the prompt to the specifications of what the game wants to see. In essence, this “gamifies” the art of photography.

But, I think it’s important to ask ourselves as designers of photography games - do I want this to feel like client work? Or do I want this to feel like artistic expression? Either is appropriate, so long as we are deeply intentional about it.

From 'What basic photography tips can teach us about making better photo modes' by Bryant Francis

Before I worked in games, I was in TV and film production. Before I was in TV and Film production, I was in film school. Before I ever shot a moving picture, I took a photography course, and before I took that photography course, my Grandfather, Larry S. Cohan, taught me how to shoot photos.

In Fall 2009 he was published a (still-archived) story called "Better Photos—No Cost" in a Maryland magazine called Outlook by the Bay, a publication for senior citizens of the Chesapeake Bay region. It documents the basics of photography he didn't just share with me but seemed obsessed with everyone having some understanding of.

Some of his grumpiness still drips off the page. "Don't bore your friends with photos that would bore you if they weren't your own," he wrote. "If you're shooting the sunrise over Bar Harbor, Maine, don't try to include your half-asleep spouse." Sarcasm was a second language for Grandpa, but I remember he seemed sincerely frustrated at how his peers didn't understand the basics of photography, equaled only by his frustration of how they were intimidated by computers.

For Photography Week, I revisited his guide and thought about how he was trying to teach fellow retirees better ways to take shots. They're good tips—ones I still think about when having fun in a photo mode like the ones in Pacific Drive, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, or Marvel's Spider-Man 2.

They're so good, in fact, that they could help you make a better photo mode for your next game.