Stephanie J

Stephanie J is a Canadian artist who began her IGP journey towards the end of 2018. She was always interested in photography as well as fascinated by videogame worlds and the creativity that goes into them, so combining both together came naturally. Inspired by influential figures in the field such as Petri Levälahti (Berduu), Erika Tschinkel, Frans Bouma, SkallEdit, Jim2Point0 and Natty Dread, IGP soon became her number one passion:

my motivation has always been to be the best I can possibly be. There have been so many things I’ve had to leave behind because of my anxiety, so being able to continue with my passion for virtual photography drives me to keep going further. I am most proud of accepting a really great opportunity to contribute as a game capture artist for a graphics processor company.

Stephanie J

IG Photographer

Although she is not very present in community discussions and activities due to anxiety, she has become well known for the quality of her images and her constant experimentation.

The stories and themes that she explores vary from game to game and from shot to shot. She never goes into a game with a clear plan and instead simply attempts to bring out the emotions she feels while playing and portray these in her work. Each capture is tweaked individually to reflect these feelings, even if it takes some exploration and patience for the inspiration to come. When that moment arrives and she discovers something worth capturing, she can spend an hour or more searching for different angles and lighting. In her work, she uses a combination of tools and techniques,

a mixture of in-game photo modes and free cameras developed by the community, most specifically a very talented individual, Frans Bouma. The amount of hard work he has put into creating camera tools for games so that people like us can pursue this hobby is simply amazing. ReShade is another must have for me. Advanced post processing injector within the game itself. It manipulates shaders and can change how the game looks as you play.

Stephanie J

IG Photographer

She chooses carefully the games she plays based on the camera tools/mods made available by the community of practice and recognises that ‘without them, I don’t think I would be creating what I do today’.

The video game industry has become more receptive towards gamers’ content creation, to the extent that in-game photo modes are now more common than ever before. This can arguably be the most important milestone in the practice. Generally these tools still present important limitations, such as a restricted camera range, the impossibility of manipulating lighting, or using them in cutscenes. Despite the agency that developers give to players with photo modes, Stephanie tends to use tools that expand on them, employing a wider array of options that give her more freedom for creativity. However, Stephanie perceives that game developers are taking into account the increasing number of practitioners, and photo modes are gradually getting better. Likewise, as more in-depth games are released, the community of practice continues to develop and share technical and sophisticated tools and mods which ‘allow us all more creative freedom’, increasing opportunities for capturing beautiful and artistic shots.

theHunter: Call of the Wild © Expansive Worlds

Morels: The Hunt © Abrams Studios

Namibia

The past is present

Extra credit line for 'Namibia'

Microsoft Flight Simulator © Microsoft Corporation. This artwork was created under Microsoft's "Game Content Usage Rules" (https://www.xbox.com/en-us/developers/rules) using assets from Microsoft Flight Simulator, and it is not endorsed by or affiliated with Microsoft.