hey, i think i might've found a possible lead regarding the source of the picture used in some of postal 1's promotional material?
for context, i found the image on the left by total chance the other day through a reverse image search. upon looking up the image ID on gettyimages, i was able to find the original here.
at first, i assumed it was a cosplay photo of sorts that had somehow managed to end up on a stock images site, but upon closer inspection, that doesn't seem to be the case. the angle is slightly different, but if you compare certain details to the one on the right (such as the stuff on the floor and the texture of the walls), they're practically identical. as such, i believe these two pictures may come from the same photoshoot.
however, that's pretty much the extent of what i know. unfortunately, it doesn't look like there's a way to contact the poster of this image for more information, and i doubt RWS would be of much help either, as i recall mike j stating in a reddit thread that the picture was owned by ripcord games (which has been defunct for well over a decade by now), not them.
i just wanted to share this cause i thought it was an interesting find. that being said, if anyone has any idea where to find out more about origin of these two photos, then please feel free to share!
UPDATE: this post appears to have caught the attention of a buff wizard, who uncovered more information about the images in a reddit thread linked here.
according to the aforementioned thread, the author of the picture on gettyimages, chris collins, has his own website. the website itself is currently nonfunctional (at least on my end), but thankfully there exists an archive of it through the wayback machine.
i wasn't able to find either of these images since large parts of the site are either broken or were simply never archived, but i did find a list of his previous clients, shown below. among the many names listed here is panasonic, the parent company of ripcord games.
this lines up with what mike j had said about the image belonging to ripcord, and seemingly confirms that chris collins is, in fact, the photographer responsible for the picture used in postal 1's promotional material.
sadly, collins passed away about a month ago, but his body of work is still available online for anyone who is interested in checking it out. as of now, a high quality version of the postal 1 image and the identity of the individual in the image remain unknown, but regardless, i'm glad to be able to shed a bit more light on the source of this picture.
