In their time out of bounds, The Grannies captured many landmarks and locations through Red Dead Redemption 2’s photography system.
Unlike many big-budget videogames, Red Dead Redemption 2 doesn’t offer a ‘photo mode’ that allows players to manipulate the time of day and camera angle. Instead, it operates more or less like a real-world camera, with each photo taken from the character’s perspective.
Ian MacLarty described lining up the perfect shot as ‘like a game in itself’, requiring a lifelike combination of precision and luck to capture the perfect angle and quality of light.
These photos, so lovingly framed and shot, have a radical undertone. Their explorations could be considered a kind of psychogeography – an artistic practice that involved exploring urban environments to emphasise personal responses to place, rather than focusing on productivity or purpose.
Similarly, the images captured here showcase The Grannies’ emotional, playful relationship with digital space that contradicts the intended design of the game.
Since they were taken, Red Dead Redemption 2 has been updated to stop players from travelling outside the map. Still, these images remain, a reminder of the freedom that curiosity and exploration can offer.