In preparation for all my extreme sporting activities (!!!) I went out cycling yesterday and filmed the whole thing on my GoPro Hero 4 Black. First off I was surprised to find it recorded the whole 40 minutes, though in 5 separate clips. The battery life is poor, or so I thought, so it was a pleasant surprise to see it lasted so long.
Most of the footage is extremely boring but I got the occasional interesting still from it, including the one above. However, it does open up all sorts of possibilities for when I'm shooting images in more interesting environments with more going on. And certainly a GoPro attached to a photographer and silently and unobtrusively shooting footage could breathe some life into the cliched unimaginative activity that leisure photographers call 'street photography'. Instead of those pitiful attempts to recreate the golden age of photo journalism, a GoPro could actually bring some modern relevance to one of the most annoying and stilted attempts to establish some photographic credentials so loved by hobbyists trying to prove something on the photographic Internet.
But then of course, that doesn't fit in with the myth and anyway no one will read this anyway, if the stats on my previous GoPro articles are anything to go by. Personally I think this little marvel is the most interesting picture taking device I've used in a long time and it's giving me all sorts of ideas about how I can use it. But then it won't impress anybody on the Camera Club photo walk will it?