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Despite having long desired a GoPro camera, I had resisted buying one.  Although it seemed like such a great little device, and a lot of fun to "play" with, I honestly could not see a "practical use" for it in my camera bag on a regular basis.  However, a couple of months ago I was given a GoPro HERO3 Black Edition camera as a gift (side note: awesome gift!!) and I couldn't have been happier.

I was excited for the opportunity to really experiment with the GoPro on my recent holiday to Canada when my father and brother and I traveled on our annual "Father & Sons Harley-Davidson Roadtrip", mounting the camera to various places around our motorcycles.  However, unexpectedly, it was while playing with my young nieces -- Carissa (6 years old), Brooke (7 years old) and Paige (9 years old) -- when the GoPro was truly the most enjoyable.

We played with it on the swings, we jumped with it on the trampoline, we took it down the water slide, we strapped it to their heads (side note: awesome uncle!!) as they rode their bikes and scooted on their scooters.

But perhaps the most fun we had with the GoPro was on our last afternoon together when we brought it to the swimming pool.  I packed the camera in it's waterproof housing and then rigged-up a little wristband for the girls

so they could easily swim with it (and so I wasn't worried they might drop it).  They absolutely loved filming each other and themselves, capturing every jump, dive, spin and handstand on video.  It's all a bit Blair Witch Project to watch their videos, but they had a blast.

For me, however, the best part was playing with the GoPro's still photo features (old habits die hard, I guess).  The wide angle lens provided some very interesting and dynamic fields of view, the waterproof housing let me try underwater photography (for the first time ever, actually) and the camera's burst mode allowed me to shoot 30 frames in 3 seconds, which was fantastic for capturing moments like these when the girls were exploding into the water from the diving board above.

As photographer Chase Jarvis said in The New York Times last year, “For the last 50 years, companies like Nikon and Canon have been focused on precision, which has its benefits but also has its limits.  GoPro is incredibly disruptive to these legacy camera makers."  As a Nikon Professional Photographer and staunch supporter of their brand and their products, I couldn't agree more.  And when one adds iPhones and other mobile phone cameras to this equation, it's a brave new world for both camera makers and image makers the world over.