Foreword

Bradford Schmidt, Nicholas Woodman / Sonoma Raceway, California   Handheld   Photo/.5sec

Since founding GoPro in 2002 and witnessing the incredible events that followed, I’ve come to believe our personal interests and passions act as roadmaps for our lives. Passion is often what motivates us to get off the couch and start moving in a certain direction. The direction we choose, over time, becomes our life. Consider this and you’ll appreciate the events that brought me together with this book’s author and the founding member of GoPro’s media production team, Bradford Schmidt.

In 2002, I was out of work and had no idea what to do with the rest of my life. With hopes of finding inspiration on the road, I planned a five-month surf trip around Australia and Indonesia to pursue my obsession with surfing. The irony is that I had my inspiration for GoPro, initially a simple wrist camera for surfers, before I even left for my trip. By the time I met Bradford four months later aboard an overnight ferry to the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia, I was already testing an early GoPro prototype. Bradford and I had both followed our passions to that point in space and time and it was there, on that boat, that we formed a friendship that would one day lead to great things.

In the years that followed, I established GoPro as a small but growing business and Bradford followed his passion for filmmaking to UCLA film school. During that period I met Bradford’s childhood friend, Brandon Thompson, and each year I would send the two of them prototypes of GoPro’s soon-to-be-released camera for them to test on their adventures. Always honest, they generally weren’t too impressed until 2009 when I sent them an early sample of the HD HERO, GoPro’s first HD camera. I vividly remember Bradford calling me up, excitedly telling me just what I’d told him the day before: “This camera is going to change everything.”

Shortly thereafter, I convinced Bradford to leave the lure of Hollywood to establish what would become GoPro’s in-house media production department, GoPro Original Productions. Brandon soon joined and a magic momentum set in. Although a far cry from what it is today, our media production team started with a spark that would help it become what is now arguably the most innovative and creative group of short-form content creators in the world. That spark was Bradford, himself.

Today, Bradford, Brandon, and I work together with GoPro’s nearly 900 employees to enable others around the world to self-document and share their interests and experiences like never before. GoPro has become a global movement of visual expression thanks in large part to the inspiring content Bradford and his team have produced over the years. This book is an invaluable window into their creative thinking and summarizes years of experience and insight. Hopefully it serves as a spark for you just as the authors have for GoPro.

Don’t forget to follow your passions. They just might lead you to you.

Nicholas Woodman,
Founder and CEO of GoPro