In close collaboration with The New York Times, Westley Sarokin and I co-directed a 360 video experience that transported viewers through time to some of the most unforgettable moments in Olympic history.

Working with these iconic photos presented fascinating perceptual questions: where photography is a subtractive exercise of isolating a subject and directing the viewer’s focus, VR is additive. The viewer can direct their attention wherever they like!

In lieu of fixed compositions, vignetting, or selective focus, our tools were photogrammetry, projection mapping, and composited lighting. These allowed us to reproduce these historic arenas within looks drawn from four distinct eras of photographic technology.

(For a more immersive experience, watch in the NYT VR app for Android and iOS.)