Remember when you got up enough nerve to go bungee jumping for the first time? It was such an incredibly liberating feeling. Those are the times of your life you don’t just want to remember — you want to relive them. The still photos that your buddy took are great, but they don’t really capture the fun that day or the exhilaration from free-falling off a bridge.
Capturing significant and momentous events is what wearable and gear mountable cameras, like the GoPro, were made for. You might be one hell of a story teller, but the photos and videos do more than tell a story; they take your friends and family along for the ride.
GoPro Cameras
Millions of these videos are on YouTube and other sites across the net. You could easily spend a day perusing them, vicariously traveling the world from the comfort of your home or the internet cafe. And you’d be hard pressed to pick a favorite because each video provides a distinctly different experience. To prove that point, here’s a list of 9 of the best GoPro moments on the web.
1. Swimming with Dolphins
It’s interesting enough to document a tuna fishing trip underwater, from the tuna’s point of view. Every so often, though, nature has more in store for you than you expect and when a pod of dolphins shows up to follow along and mug for the camera, you have to sit back and enjoy the ride.
2. Falling Footage
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A day spent skiing with friends is worthy of recording for posterity. The sky’s blue, it’s the perfect temperature — all ideal conditions for skiing and taping. The bonus comes when you lose your footing and fall backward down the hill. You gotta take the bad with the good.
3. iPad Space Fall
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(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4xNcF6T7Is&feature=player_embedded) Spielberg got his start this way, didn’t he? Setting up scenarios and filming the progression and outcome? It might not quite be Oscar material, but this video of launching an iPad into space via a weather balloon and its subsequent fall once the balloon pops not only provides crisp, beautiful video, but it gives a significant nod to the durability of the camera, the iPad and the cover encasing it.
4. Athletes, Adventurers, Filmmakers
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(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUEZCxBcM78&feature=pyv&feature=pyv&ad=8662372819&kw={70e867cd2e68ee364b0db292aa41535b9c15b30eb7036e6526ebd577e85c0c0a}2Bgopro{70e867cd2e68ee364b0db292aa41535b9c15b30eb7036e6526ebd577e85c0c0a}20{70e867cd2e68ee364b0db292aa41535b9c15b30eb7036e6526ebd577e85c0c0a}2Bvideo) Surfing, snowboarding, base jumping, ski jumping. You’ve done it all — or at least it will feel like it after this fast-paced video cobbled seamlessly together with footage from around the world. It’s a whole lot of action packed into just five minutes.
5. Scuba Diving in Spain
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(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jb8_sHc5X4) Ever been scuba diving? Well, how about traveling to Spain? If not, mark those two items off your bucket list after viewing this stunning underwater video of diving in Mallorca.
6. Flying Video
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(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiQQJW3mP30) Do R. Kelly one better — don’t just wish you could fly when you can experience soaring with a GoPro camera attached to an electric RC glider. Over cornfields, forests and waterways, you’ll really know what a bird’s eye view looks like.
7. Winter X Games
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(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFnBeViR6rY) If you’ve never had the cajones to participate in the sporting events of the Winter X Games, here is the perfect chance for you to live vicariously. From x-treme snowmobiling to ski jumping and snowboarding, it’s an impressive collection of remarkable athletic feats as well as amazing video and editing.
8. Time Flies
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(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYx8uLz_P1I) Time can crawl or it can breeze by, but in this GoPro video it flows like a raging river. Shot over the course of a year, you’ll see urban settings as well as snowy wilderness shots and breath-taking beach scenes. A year flying by in about 4 minutes. That sounds about right.
9. Great White Shark Dive
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(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzhnE9eiXjs) You don’t have to be an avid swimmer to appreciate this astounding video taken from the safety of a shark cage. The size of the Great Whites is sobering and justification for a moment of silence. Swimming gracefully about like superstars of the ocean world with their entourage of Remoras, they’re a startling reminder that humans are not at the top of the food chain.
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What is your favorite GoPro video?
Edwin is a tech enthusiast and writer for USDish.