Doesn't Look Like a Photo

Why did this photo have 1615 views and 218 'faves'? Is it even a photo?

Game © Flickr user oldTor under Creative Commons.

That title didn't explain anything. The description (translated from Russian) said, 'Shot with a lens Samsung NX 18-55 f/3.5-5.6 OIS, HDR', which also didn't mean anything to me, because I'm not much of a photographer. At least I knew it was a photo and that it was in 21 groups, 3 albums, and 1 gallery. Maybe there's a clue there.

The first group was 'Grunge Art Work', which also didn't mean much to me. A Google search presented the question, 'What is grunge design?', and answered,

The term "Grunge" was first coined to stand for a specific type of music, influenced by punk, rock and heavy metal. The design itself takes on the rawness of punk and rock, and incorporates real life imagery inspired by the urban and industrial scene -- it's very stylistic, less uniform, and is easily recognizable.

Easily recognizable? Google also presented the question, 'What is grunge art?'. The answer was,

Such images are used by various designers today to help them create artworks that reflect the atmosphere of heavy rock, or underground punk music. This idea of a grunge look, like the idea of a retro style, has witnessed an expansion today.

I can't say that I'm any wiser after that. The second group was 'Opt out no limits for art work!', subtitled, 'A place to put your art no limits go wild! and have fun!' Other than a mild obsession with the female form, there was no discernible connection between the artworks in the group, many of which were impressive indeed.

Many groups carried the acronym 'HDR', which also appeared in the photo's description. Google presented another question, 'What is HDR photo?', and answered,

HDR is a setting on the iPhone Camera app. The letters stand for High Dynamic Range. But what does that mean? It means that your camera will process photos slightly differently than normal in order to capture greater detail from bright and dark areas in your photo.

Back to the question about views and faves, let's just add it to the long list of life's little mysteries.