Storms hit Warrnambool on Tuesday, June 24th, and I was there with my gopro at the right time in the right place to witness the sea at its wildest. I didn’t intentionally go out to get wind blown and soaked by the giant waves but sitting at my desk doing work when I knew there was some crazy action going on just five minutes down the road from my home was way too tempting.

So I grabbed the gopro and set it to 50 fps. I wanted to over-crank the footage so I could gather some nice looking slow motion footage of the waves smashing. I chose the gopro for its water-proof housing. The weather conditions were such that you would not be able to stand out in it with a camera and tripod- it was the kind of wind that was blowing over trees, lifting off roofs and destroying trampolines (think flying trampoline smashes into backyard fence).  The weather was way too wild to be walking around in, so I opted for attaching the go pro to the front of the Defender.

The idea of shooting on the gorpo was great in theory but unfortunately when I got home to view the footage, I was utterly disappointed. To the point where I wasn’t even going to upload any footage. In my head I had imagined I had this A-M-A-Z-I-N-G footage, the type of footage that news services would grab at, and it would go viral on social media. I imagined it because thats how I experienced it; TOTALLY WILD! What a bumma that my camera didn’t capture it just how I was seeing it.

I cannot blame my camera because I know how it works. I know its pitfalls, as well as its capabilities.

The problems I had shooting with the gopro were;

• I could not see what I was filming. There is no view-finder with the hero 1. So my filming was all guess work. Point the camera in the general direction and hope for the best.
• My gopro kept fogging up which meant the vision I had was foggy too. In the short time I was filming, I took the camera out of its water proof casing to ‘un-fog’ the lens three times. The condensation inside the water proof casing wasn’t happening because the sun was shining on it but, (I think) because, it was so cold outside, freezing cold!
• The constant sea spray meant that my camera had water drips on the lens a lot which totally ruins a shot. I was ‘licking the lens‘ to avoid the dreaded drip but, yeah, because the sea spray was a constant, many a ‘golden’ shot was ruined.
• The go-pro image is best if you’re up close and personal to the subject. Much of my footage didn’t look good simply because I was too far away from the action. Too far way could also be called a safe distance in those shooting conditions.

What I did like about the go-pro, apart from its ability to shoot in 50 fps and that it is water-proof and durable, is that once I took the camera off the front of the car and had a walk around with it, I loved the look of the spray of the waves smashing onto the camera. I did also enjoy the excitement of not knowing what you’re going to get, until you get home and load it onto your computer; a bit like the old days of the pin-hole camera and darkroom photography.

To solve a few of my problems, I am going to upgrade to the latest go-pro. Namely, for the view-finder, the richer, sharper image and its ability to shoot 120 fps. That’s right 120 FPS! Imagine how those waves would look with that kind of slow mo. Now, all I need is another storm…