Photographic inspiration

If materials, meshes, textures and lighting were "solved", what would be all the focus of (realistic) environment visuals? 

Architecture, photography, scenography. And the technology to serve these better.

Should we emulate cinema and still photography or does photography in a virtual world mean something different? Is the interactivity a possibility to create techniques that we don't even have in CG movies?

I don't know, but it's wise to know the past while thinking of the future.

When it comes to environments, I love the American cityscapes depicted by the early adopters of color photography. It's a feeling that is hard to describe, estrangement maybe, probably an effect that is amplified on me as I grew up in the super dense Southern Italian cities, where nothing has an end and people build all in the little space available, from the sea up to the Vesuvius.

Who are your favourite photographers?

Trent Parke

Richard Misrach

Gregory Crewdson

Todd Hido

Joel Meyerowitz

William Eggleston

Stephen Shore