Remember the video flip from Cisco Systems? Flip was one of the first and most popular products known as pocket camcorders. Flip videos were great, but since cell phones like the iPhone 4 included HD video cameras, the market for a pocket camcorder disappeared almost as quickly as it started. Well, it’s almost gone. GoPro, a pocketable camcorder made for tough outdoor environments, continues to thrive and has been since its launch in 2002.

GoPro is the main brand of Woodman Labs Inc., based in Half Moon Bay, Ca. Prior to 2002, Nick Woodman, the founder and CEO of Woodman Labs, moved back in with his parents. In an effort to get away from his parents, Nick traveled the California coast surfing and developing what is now the GoPro HD Hero.

Originally, the GoPro was simply intended to be a small, highly durable camera that Nick and his friends could take surfing and other adventures with to document their most exciting moments. While talking to people about his camera ideas, they said, “I really don’t want to buy one, but I wish my friends had one to film me with.” That’s when he stumbled upon the key to GoPro, which has made the camcorder such a success: the mounts that attach the camera to all sorts of gear and make the camera wearable and hands-free. When watching GoPro videos, you can see everything from the camera attached to a surfboard to a camera attached to a helmet mounted to the way you see the users face.

GoPro initially marketed and was well received by the outdoor sports community as a way to document the highlights of their lives. In recent years, it has expanded into the new and unexpected market of professional videographers. While GoPro takes very high-quality photos and videos, it doesn’t have all the conveniences of a professional camera and therefore wasn’t marketed for professionals. However, many high-level people in the film industry have wisely realized this special device due to its low cost and high durability in extreme situations. As of 2011, GoPros have been used in 60 television shows, including Sarah Palin’s Alaska, Myth busters, and The Deadliest Catch (to shoot crabs entering a crab pot at the bottom of the sea).

Andy Casagrande IV, a videographer for National Geographic and Discover Channel, to shoot some footage that had never been possible before, also used a GoPro. Specifically, he has obtained footage of sharks eating the camera and the inside of the shark’s mouth, placing GoPro cameras to seal off dummies.