# GoPro

GoPro is a brand of wearable action cameras whose first-person extreme-sports footage became a signature internet video style in the early 2010s. Clips of surfers, skydivers, seagulls, and stratosphere jumps racked up millions of views on YouTube and helped shape how adventure video looks online.

## Overview
GoPro is a brand of small wearable camcorders built for outdoor and extreme conditions. Founder Nick Woodman came up with the idea during a surfing trip and wanted a cheap way to film himself and his friends in the water[1]. The compact body and wide fisheye lens made it easy to strap the camera to helmets, boards, handlebars, and even animals.

The gear turned into its own YouTube video style. First-person skiing, biking, surfing, and animal-mounted GoPro clips spread heavily in the early 2010s, and by late 2012 the company had sold three million cameras in three years, which IDC ranked as the top-selling video camera in the United States[1].

The camera picked up its own slang along the way. Urban Dictionary users described the "GoPro effect," where the wide lens flattens perspective and makes big drops or steep jumps look smaller than they actually are[4].

## How It Spread
Music and surf video pushed the format past hobbyist circles. On April 20th, 2010, Jack Johnson's music video for "You And Your Heart" hit YouTube with GoPro footage shot from a surfboard, later drawing over 15.5 million views[3].

Wildlife and animal clips fed the next wave. On June 23rd, 2011, Lukas Karasek uploaded a video of a seagull flying off with his GoPro in Cannes, France, which was reposted to r/videos two days later and picked up more than 2,000 upvotes[3]. That October, YouTuber mcsmcc posted a clip of a mountain biker blindsided by an antelope that drew more than 14.4 million views, and in September 2012 YouTuber hulafantastica shared footage from a GoPro mounted on a hula hoop at Burning Man[3].

The camera hit its peak visibility on October 14th, 2012, when Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner wore a GoPro on his chest during his 24-mile stratosphere jump[1]. Within a week, the tech blog Gizmodo published a roundup of 12 standout GoPro videos, and the New York Times Bits blog wrote about the camera being mounted on Mach-5 jets and 100-foot surfboards[1].

## How to Use
GoPro-style shots typically use the camera's wide fisheye lens mounted first-person: on a helmet, chest harness, surfboard, handlebars, or a pet. Common conventions include point-of-view action framing, extreme motion close to the lens, and mounts that put the viewer inside the ride. Creators often lean into the fisheye look for the signature GoPro feel, even though it can make jumps and drops appear smaller than they really are, an effect nicknamed the "GoPro effect" on Urban Dictionary[4].

## Frequently Asked Questions
### What is GoPro?
GoPro is a brand of wearable action cameras whose first-person adventure footage became a widely shared internet video style in the early 2010s[1].

### Where did GoPro come from?
GoPro was started by Nick Woodman after a surfing trip, and the first camera system shipped in 2004[3]. The earliest known GoPro clip on YouTube was posted by HidalgoRides on October 15th, 2007[2].

### What does GoPro mean?
GoPro refers both to the camera brand and to the wide-angle first-person action video style it made popular; Urban Dictionary also documents the "GoPro effect," where the fisheye lens shrinks how big a jump or drop looks[4].

### How do you use GoPro?
People typically mount the camera on a helmet, chest strap, board, bike, or animal and film first-person action with its wide lens, sometimes accepting the flattening "GoPro effect" as part of the look[4].

### Is GoPro still popular?
GoPro-style first-person action clips stayed a common online video format after the early-2010s peak; by 2012, IDC named GoPro the top-selling video camera in the United States[1].

## References
1. [https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/disruptions-gopro-camera-records-sky-divers-and-surfers/](<https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/disruptions-gopro-camera-records-sky-divers-and-surfers/>)
2. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhMf8pr6LZQ](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhMf8pr6LZQ>)
3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/gopro](<https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/gopro>)
4. [https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gopro](<https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gopro>)

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Source: https://meme.com/memes/gopro
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