I’ve heard of video game photography, but I have to admit, one photographer’s setup for (real) photos of the 2026 Winter Olympics is one that I haven’t heard before. Getty photographer Jared C. Tilton used a Canon camera…and a PlayStation controller.
Tilton spent much of the Olympics taking high-angle shots over the ice, but he wasn’t using a drone or climbing up in the rafters. The Getty staff photographer’s setup used a Canon EOS R1 and 70-200mm lens inside a robotic rig.
The camera sent the footage straight to the photographer’s laptop. Using specially designed software, Tilton could then remotely trigger shots above the ice.
But what caught my attention was how he triggered the shots: Using a PlayStation controller. Drone controllers have always reminded me of video game controllers, and it makes sense that a moving robotic camera would need a similar setup in order to not just trigger a shot, but move the robot around to get the right composition.
The result of the complex setup is that Tilton was able to capture a bird ’s-eye view of iconic moments from above the ice. The high angle opened up a number of lovely compositions not possible shooting from the usual press section, such as athletes framed by the Olympic logo on the ice, a top-down view of Ilia Malinin’s viral backflip, and the huddle of hockey teams celebrating the gold.
The 2026 Winter Olympics ended with its closing ceremony on February 22, but now that the photographers are no longer busy shooting, I love that we’re getting glimpses of what it’s like to photograph the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee set a 3,000-person limit on press at the 2026 Winter Games, so spots for photographers were highly coveted.
Getty photographers shot more than six million images at the 2026 Winter Olympics across 39 editorial photographers and 24 commercial photographers.
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