A Camera Accessory for People with Short Arms

Today, I witnessed a couple taking a photo of themselves.  The man, in his infinite wisdom, balanced the camera on the end of planter that did not have quite enough room,  . . .  hit the timer, and then  . . .  it fell off  . . .  SMACK!!!  . . . broken, lying on the ground in several pieces. Not a pretty site but one that I imagine happens often.  Another of my least favorite self portrait catastrophes is one that graces the Facebook photo scene far to often: the super close-up image with the cut-off heads and the outstretched arm. I believe the picture quality correlates with the length of a person’s arm: long arm = bad photo, short arm = really bad photo. So I thought I would write this blog entry to plug a product that I think is an easy way to rid the world of this phenomenon and make the crooked self-portrait drunk in a bar photo, at the very least, appear level, keeping your Facebook friends from knowing how drunk you really were that night.

The GorillaPod by Joby has been around for a while, but most people have never heard of it.  Think of it as a tripod with short, monkey-like fingers, instead of legs, which can stand straight like a tripod or bend and twist around just about anything, including hanging from tree branches. The GorillaPod comes in many different sizes and versions but for most compact cameras, the size is small enough to carry in a purse.  There is a magnetic version, another for large SLRs and video cameras and they even have a new model for the Iphone and Ipad. Plus, they come in seven colors for those who need to coordinate with their outfits (here in Miami, this is not an outlandish statement). Take a look at the images below. I think they speak for themselves.  If you buy one, you may avoid taking the photo that prompts your parents to conduct an intervention.

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