EXPLAINER: Olympic photos from far above — and underwater

TOKYO (AP) — Those amazing shots: Olympians captured from above, an airborne view of the most challenging of competitions, from gymnastics to track. Divers descending gracefully. Swimmers cutting through the clear water, their faces etched with determination, caught mid-stroke by a camera meticulously set up at the bottom of the pool.

How does that get done, anyway? Are there actual photographers lying underwater, looking up? Are there multiple photojournalists wandering the catwalks at events? Is it robotics?

No, no ... and yes.

Since the London Games in 2012, The Associated Press has been using a combination of robotics, ingenuity and creativity to make memorable photos from difficult places. The intricate setup — reconnaissance begins months beforehand and setup takes place many weeks in advance — ensures that the world catches glimpses of Olympians in ways it might otherwise never see.

AP photojournalists David J. Phillip, Morry Gash, Chris Carlson and Jeff Roberson have made it their business to ensure AP can deliver these photos to the world from the Olympic Games. Here, Gash and Phillip, sitting at the Olympics' Main Press Center demonstrating their joystick-driven camera control, go behind the scenes to explain a bit about how it all works.

WHAT WERE THE BEGINNINGS OF THIS?

PHILLIP: In London, the original connection to the camera was a physical cable from wherever it was. We had everything wired together, it had to be a direct connection. And then it evolved to do being able to do it over a network. And now we’re all the way up to where we can we can control every robotic we have from right here in the Main Press Center if we wanted. We could do it from anywhere in the world, really.

GASH: I’m doing it in a box, using a joystick. It’s like a video game. Put...