I've been asked numerous times how am I able to capture some of the many shots of myself and my environment without anyone else around. As a professional photographer, I usually wield a pretty large camera with lens but when thats not a possibility...or I just don't want some stranger holding my 10lbs piece of expensive plastic and glass, I use a Go Pro. The Go Pro, with its case, is pretty indestructible and works well in most environments. Underwater, places with blowing sand or other environments with hazardous factors that may harm a DSLR, a Go Pro will do wonders. Dont be afraid to play with various angles. Drop it low, raise it high, stick it outside of moving vehicles, dangle it close to wild animals or just hold it in your hand.
Left: Telescopic selfie stick type pole. Right: Gorilla grip type flexible arm tripod.
There's two additions to the arsenal you will need with the Go Pro outside of the waterproof case and mounts it already comes with. An extra battery, charger, and 64gb card comes in handy as well but the bread and butter for me is a telescopic pole(selfie stick) and a gorilla grip type tripod. The pole you choose should be of good quality as that is what will most likely get the majority of usage.
On safari in Kenya with Go Pro attached to a gorilla grip mounted on the roof of the bus.
The gorilla grip is nothing less than awesome. You can use the flexible arms to attach it to almost anything and focus a camera or a Go Pro in any direction. With the wireless remote that comes with the Go Pro, you dont even need to be near it to trigger the shots. Once again, be creative and be unique...just dont put it in a place where it could potentially become irretrievable.
Go Pro on a telescopic pole close to the ground but focused upward.
Setting the Go Pro to take the images is pretty simple and straightforward. No need to be a pro at all. Just set it to the time elapse or shot burst mode and watch it take images twice a second or less frequently. Remember if holding it with the pole or in your hand, to keep it as steady as possible to not cause blurry pictures. In these modes, the Go Pro will continue to take pictures until you either stop it or the space runs out on the camera. Once the space runs out, theres no way to selectively delete pictures without some external means like a phone or laptop, so dont forget to stop it.
Go Pro with telescopic pole stuck inside my harness, abseiling in Vietnam.
As with anything, the Go Pro does have its limitations. It is really bad in dark lighting, so unless you're shooting in a lit area, the images and/or video will come out dark. Also it doesnt pick up color well so the images results can be somewhat flat. Image editing software such as anything Adobe comes in handy to remedy this. Play around the color and light to bring about your best in the images.
March on and be great! Video is even more awesome!!!
-OTP