Shutterbox Photo Entertainment partnered with the PGA to provide a variety of custom photo experiences designed to capture the excitement surrounding the tournament and give guests memorable ways to interact with the event.
When one of the biggest events in professional golf comes to Chicago, every detail of the guest experience matters.
For the 2026 Presidents Cup, Shutterbox Photo Entertainment partnered with the PGA to provide a variety of custom photo experiences designed to capture the excitement surrounding the tournament and give guests memorable ways to interact with the event.
The experience began in one of Chicago’s most iconic settings, the Art Institute of Chicago, where golfers, guests, and VIPs gathered to celebrate the start of the 2026 Presidents Cup.
For the kickoff event, Shutterbox created two fully customized Classic Enclosed Photo Booths, with one representing Team USA and the other representing Team International.
The result was much more than a traditional photo booth.
Each enclosed booth became a fully branded photo experience that combined the nostalgia and privacy of a classic photo booth with custom event branding created specifically for one of golf’s premier international competitions.
For Shutterbox, it was another opportunity to demonstrate how an enclosed photo booth can become an engaging centerpiece for sporting events, corporate events, sponsorship activations, experiential marketing campaigns, and other large-scale events.
The Presidents Cup brings together elite professional golfers from the United States and around the world for a unique international team competition.
With the 2026 event taking place in the Chicago area, the tournament provided an opportunity to combine world-class golf with the energy, architecture, culture, and hospitality of Chicago.
The opening celebration at the Art Institute of Chicago provided a memorable backdrop for the beginning of tournament week.
As golfers and guests arrived, Shutterbox was there to help capture the experience.
Rather than creating a single generic photo activation, the concept centered around the identity of the competition itself.
Team USA versus Team International.
Shutterbox produced two separate Classic Enclosed Photo Booth experiences, giving each team its own customized booth.
One booth was designed around Team USA, while the second represented Team International. The exterior of each booth was professionally wrapped with custom graphics, transforming the equipment itself into part of the event environment.
Guests weren’t simply walking up to a photo booth.
They were choosing a team and stepping into the Presidents Cup experience.
Photo booth technology has changed dramatically over the years.
Open-air photo booths, roaming photography, AI photo experiences, trading card activations, 360 video booths, and other interactive concepts have expanded what is possible at events.
But there is still something special about the Classic Enclosed Photo Booth.
It is instantly recognizable.
Guests understand exactly what to do when they see it. They step inside, close the curtain, pose for the camera, and create a sequence of photos.
That familiarity is part of its appeal.
At the same time, Shutterbox’s Classic Enclosed Photo Booth can be transformed into a completely customized branded experience.
For the 2026 Presidents Cup, the exterior graphics allowed the booths to become visual elements within the event rather than simply pieces of equipment placed in the room.
Custom wrapping gives brands, sponsors, sports organizations, agencies, and event producers the opportunity to turn virtually every visible surface of the booth into part of the activation.
The result combines the classic appeal of an enclosed photo booth with the visual impact expected from a modern experiential marketing activation.
One of the biggest advantages of an enclosed photo booth is the experience that happens after guests step behind the curtain.
There is a sense of privacy that doesn’t exist with many open-air photo activations.
Guests can relax.
They can be silly.
They can experiment with different poses.
And because they are temporarily separated from the surrounding event, the experience often feels more personal.
That can lead to genuine expressions and spontaneous moments that make the final photos more memorable.
The booth also creates anticipation.
Guests see people entering the booth, hear the activity inside, and watch them emerge with their photos. That naturally generates curiosity and can encourage others to participate.
At a busy event, this creates an activation that can continuously attract attention without requiring guests to understand complicated technology or instructions.
Step inside. Pose. Take photos. Walk away with a memory.
Simple experiences can be incredibly effective.
For corporate and experiential events, the physical appearance of an activation matters almost as much as the technology behind it.
A standard photo booth can capture great photos.
A custom-wrapped enclosed photo booth can become part of the event’s visual identity.
For the Presidents Cup kickoff, Shutterbox customized the exterior of each Classic Enclosed Photo Booth to represent the two competing teams.
The transformation immediately communicated the theme of the activation.
Guests could see Team USA and Team International represented before they ever stepped inside.
This type of customization is especially valuable for brand activations because the booth itself becomes a highly visible piece of branded real estate.
Custom graphics can incorporate event branding, sponsor logos, campaign artwork, colors, messaging, product imagery, team graphics, hashtags, or other creative elements.
Instead of trying to hide photo booth equipment within an event design, the equipment becomes part of the design.
For sponsors and brands, that can create additional visibility throughout the event while reinforcing the connection between the photo experience and the campaign.
Digital content has become a major part of live events, but there is still tremendous value in giving guests something physical to take home.
A printed photo creates a tangible connection to an experience.
Guests may share an image online immediately, but a physical print can remain on a desk, refrigerator, bulletin board, or inside a scrapbook long after the event is over.
For sporting events, that keepsake can be especially meaningful.
Fans associate major sporting events with specific places, people, teams, and moments. A customized photo from the experience becomes a small piece of that memory.
The Presidents Cup activation combined that traditional appeal with event-specific branding.
Rather than receiving a generic photograph, guests were able to create a keepsake connected directly to their experience at the 2026 Presidents Cup.
That is one of the reasons photo booths continue to work so well for sports activations.
The experience is entertaining in the moment, but the value continues after the guest leaves.
The best experiential activations do not feel like advertisements.
They feel like part of the event.
That distinction is important.
Guests attend major sporting events because they want to experience something they cannot recreate at home. They want to feel connected to the teams, athletes, venue, and atmosphere surrounding the competition.
A well-designed photo activation gives them another way to participate.
For the Presidents Cup kickoff, the Team USA and Team International booths reflected the central storyline of the tournament.
The two-booth concept created an immediate visual connection to the competition while giving guests a natural reason to interact with the activation.
Which team are you supporting?
Which booth are you stepping into?
The physical design helped make the photo experience part of the larger Presidents Cup environment.
While the Classic Enclosed Photo Booths created a dedicated destination for guests, Shutterbox also provided roaming photography throughout the kickoff event.
The two services served different purposes.
Inside the photo booth, guests actively chose to create a photo experience.
Throughout the event, roaming photographers captured the moments happening naturally around them.
Golfers and guests mingling.
Conversations between attendees.
Groups gathering together.
Reactions and candid moments throughout the evening.
Combining a stationary photo activation with roaming event photography provides broader coverage of an event.
The enclosed booth creates a branded interactive experience, while roaming photographers capture the atmosphere surrounding it.
Together, the two approaches tell a more complete visual story.
Sports events provide an ideal environment for photo experiences because fans already arrive emotionally connected to the event.
They are wearing team colors.
They are celebrating athletes.
They are gathering with friends, colleagues, clients, or family.
They want to document where they were.
A photo booth gives them an easy way to do that.
For brands and event organizers, an enclosed photo booth can also be adapted to a wide range of environments, including tournament hospitality areas, sponsor activations, VIP events, fan festivals, corporate hospitality programs, athlete appearances, opening celebrations, after-parties, trade shows, and other special events.
The exterior can be customized for the event while the photo output can be designed around the campaign.
That flexibility allows the same core experience to feel completely different from one event to another.
For Shutterbox, projects like the 2026 Presidents Cup represent the evolution of the photo booth industry.
Today’s clients often aren’t simply searching for a photo booth rental.
They are looking for an experience.
They want something that attracts attention, fits naturally within their event design, encourages participation, produces branded content, and leaves guests with something memorable.
That requires thinking beyond the camera.
The booth design matters.
The guest journey matters.
The branding matters.
The physical footprint matters.
The final photo matters.
And most importantly, the experience has to be enjoyable.
Shutterbox approaches custom photo activations with all of these elements in mind.
Whether the project involves a Classic Enclosed Photo Booth, custom trading cards, AI photography, roaming photography, a 360 video experience, Glambot-style content, or another interactive concept, the objective remains the same:
Create an experience people genuinely want to participate in.
There is a reason the traditional enclosed photo booth remains recognizable decades after the concept first became popular.
It works.
People enjoy stepping behind the curtain and taking photos together.
What has changed is what can be built around that experience.
Modern photo booth technology allows brands and event producers to combine the familiarity of the classic booth with professional photography, custom graphics, branded photo designs, digital sharing, event-specific creative, and experiential marketing strategies.
The Presidents Cup activation demonstrated how effectively those worlds can come together.
The experience retained everything guests love about a classic enclosed booth while visually transforming it for a major international sporting event.
Shutterbox Photo Entertainment has spent years creating interactive photo experiences for sporting events, corporate events, experiential marketing campaigns, festivals, conventions, brand activations, and live entertainment throughout Chicago and across the country.
Every event presents a different creative opportunity.
Sometimes that means building a custom trading card experience that allows fans to become the athlete.
Sometimes it means using AI to transform a guest into a completely different character or environment.
Sometimes it means capturing dramatic slow-motion content.
And sometimes the right solution is a timeless enclosed photo booth, completely transformed through thoughtful design and custom branding.
The 2026 Presidents Cup was a perfect example.
Two teams.
Two custom booths.
One iconic Chicago setting.
And countless moments worth remembering.
Partnering with the PGA for the 2026 Presidents Cup gave the Shutterbox team an opportunity to help create memorable guest experiences surrounding one of professional golf’s signature international events.
Beginning at the Art Institute of Chicago, our two custom-wrapped Classic Enclosed Photo Booths helped bring the Team USA and Team International identities directly into the guest experience.
At the same time, our roaming photographers documented golfers and guests enjoying the celebration and captured the candid moments that helped define the evening.
It was an exciting way to begin an incredible week of golf in Chicago and another example of what is possible when photography, event design, branding, and experiential marketing come together.
Planning a sporting event, corporate event, experiential marketing campaign, convention, hospitality program, or brand activation?
Shutterbox can transform our Classic Enclosed Photo Booth into a customized experience built around your event or brand.
From fully wrapped booth exteriors and custom photo designs to professional photography and interactive guest experiences, our team works with brands, agencies, event producers, and organizations to create photo activations that attract attention and give guests something worth remembering.
Based in Chicago and available for events nationwide, Shutterbox Photo Entertainment provides custom photo experiences designed for everything from intimate VIP events to major national activations.
Looking for a custom enclosed photo booth for your next event?
Contact Shutterbox Photo Entertainment to start creating an experience designed specifically for your brand, audience, and event.
Shutterbox Photo Entertainment is a Chicago-based photo entertainment and experiential marketing company specializing in custom photo and video activations for brands, agencies, sporting events, corporate events, festivals, conventions, and live experiences nationwide.
Our experiences include Classic Enclosed Photo Booths, professional DSLR photo booths, AI photo experiences, custom trading card photo booths, roaming photography, 360 video, Glambot-style experiences, corporate headshots, photo magnets, lenticular photos, custom postcards, photo tattoos, and other interactive photo activations.
Shutterbox Photo Entertainment
Chicago | Nationwide Event Coverage
Custom Photo Booths. Branded Experiences. Memorable Moments.
