GoPro, or who needs a viewfinder anyway? A look at GoPro and the action photography revolution
If you look at older photographs, you will see people in stiff poses grimacing in a sepia tone. This is because early cameras required long exposures, so people had to sit very still and maintain an expression to avoid blurring. It wasn’t fun and there was no way to capture action shots.
Action was the territory of painting, not photography. Painters could capture anything they could imagine to put the action on canvas. An aspiring painter even had her husband’s cavalry regiment carry her so she could capture the experience on canvas. Unfortunately, that was not always practical.
The development of modern fast film cameras and later digital photography changed everything. Photographs can be taken in a fraction of a blink, bringing action photography into the mainstream. Forests of photographers sprouted at every sporting event, peering through viewfinders to capture the perfect shot of an athlete in action.
The only problem was that all of these action shots were taken from the outside looking in. Photographers could capture what the subject was doing, but the view through the viewfinder could never match the view through the athlete’s eyes. It was seen without feeling, it lacked immersion because it was always clear that the photographer was not really experiencing it.
This is what led to the GoPro revolution. GoPro gave action photography the immediacy of a first-person shooter video game, by taking pictures from the athlete’s perspective. It wasn’t just the athletes, anyone doing anything could use a GoPro to capture the moment.
The GoPro’s success stems from two factors, the lack of a visor and its ease of mounting. By removing the viewfinder, they were able to break the paradigm of looking through the camera at what was happening from the outside. Then they made it so you can put a GoPro anywhere, on your body, on your head, wherever you want. The combination is what allows anyone to put the GoPro in the center of the action. It goes where you go.
The newest GoPro, the HERO3 + Black Edition, takes everything that GoPro is known for and takes it to the extreme.
- Supports 4K video at up to 15 frames per second
- Supports 2.7K video at 30 frames per second
- Shoot 12MP still images at 30 frames per second
- It is water resistant to 180 feet
This is a camera that counts 720P HD as its lowest video resolution, and it only increases from there. All you have to do is put it on, turn it on, and live your life to the extreme. It will capture everything you do and give others the best alternative to being there. The GoPro is not your traditional camera, it is a way to share your experiences. There is no reason to let someone on the sidelines create your image when you can wear a GoPro and share your vision.