The photos we published earlier this week from the perspective of the TV also brought to mind a series of creepy photos that were in New York magazine earlier this year — they captured the faces of men watching internet porn, again from the perspective of the screens that the men were watching. Those pictures were taken by photographer Phillip Toledano, and it turns out that he has been working this idea for a while — right back to 2002, in fact, when he published a series of similar photos of people playing video games. As he explains on his website, “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.” The results are fascinating — see them after the jump.
Photo credit: Phillip Toledano
Photo credit: Phillip Toledano
Photo credit: Phillip Toledano
Photo credit: Phillip Toledano
Photo credit: Phillip Toledano
Photo credit: Phillip Toledano
Photo credit: Phillip Toledano
Photo credit: Phillip Toledano
Photo credit: Phillip Toledano
If you’re interested in seeing more of Toledano’s work, there’s plenty of other great stuff at his website.