Portraits of Gamers And Their Avatars

You may remember James Mollison’s project called The Disciples where he documented rock concert fans and compared them to their idols. New York based photojournalist Robbie Cooper did the same, except he choose computer gamers.

For his project Alter Ego Robbie Cooper travelled around the world and photographed gamers and then compared them with avatars of the various games they play. The project was inspired by 2003 shoot with a CEO who told Cooper that he used Everquest as a medium to communicate with his children after his divorce. Cooper spent the next three years travelling to China, France, Korea, and Germany, and the resulting photos were collected into a book.

Although some guys look remarkably similar to their avatars, others don’t even come close. I can’t say I’m truly impressed. Here are some of the photographs from Alter Ego. Visit Cooper’s website for more.