Ryan Greenberg

For some time I wanted a mini-tripod for my camera. Though tiny, they’re useful for getting sharp pictures in low-light conditions and for taking timer-delay pictures when there’s no one else to take the picture. They do come with some of the typical limitations of tripods. You need to have a usable, mostly flat surface to set it up, and getting the tripod to hold the camera straight can be challenging. I live with tight purse strings and my tripod needs weren’t all that pressing, so my acquisition never went through.

Then I found it, the object of my camera-stabilization desire. Good fortune brought it to me: completely coincidentally, Brook saw the same tripod and sent it to me for my birthday. I am now the proud owner of a Gorillapod. It’s a tripod with wrappable legs so you can easily take pictures with your camera attached to trees, benches, rocks—pretty much anything you can think of. Here’s my Gorilla in action during my trip to Torres del Paine last week:

Since we traveled alone on our backpacking trip, nearly all of the pictures that show both of us are Gorilla-assisted shots (like this one, this one, and this other one). The GorillaPod is a versatile little sucker; I attached it to trees, rocks, the inside of our tent, and a bridge successfully. The legs are so bendable that it’s pretty easy to get it setup in any location. I was pleased with the results. If you’re into photography, look into a GorillaPod for yourself.