The Real Lesson From GoPro

Estimated reading time: 11 minutesAn op-ed by Mitch Goldstone, CEO and Chief Photo Archivist of ScanMyPhotos

The Question That Stuck

A branding expert recently asked me a question that really stuck with me: “What is your next act?” Instead of replying with a business plan or a product idea, I shared a thought: GoPro. Not because of the cameras themselves, but because GoPro inspired me to think differently about capturing family photo memories. It reminded me that the most meaningful pictures and videos aren’t just about pixels, lenses, storage, software, or devices. They’re about recapturing the feeling of the moment.

The Booth That Saw at CES Changed Everything

Years ago, long before GoPro became a global name, I remember walking through CES and seeing a tiny booth far away from the giant exhibits that dominated the show floor. Standing there was founder Nick Woodman. There were no massive crowds. Just me. No huge corporate production. No obvious sign that this small company would eventually change modern visual storytelling. But the idea was clear right away.

GoPro was not just selling a camera. GoPro was selling perspective.

Before GoPro, most cameras documented life from the outside looking in. After GoPro, people could feel like they were inside the experience. The wave. The mountain. The ski run. The road trip. The race. The jump. The moment when your heart is pounding, and you know you are fully alive.

That was not just hardware innovation. It was a storytelling shift. GoPro helped people capture what it felt like to be there.

Wall Street Sees a Broken Camera Company. I See GoPro’s Comeback Story.

The Camera Was Never the Whole Story

Today, it’s common to see people view GoPro as a symbol of financial challenge. The stock that once represented a thrilling chapter in consumer camera history now trades well below its peak. Revenue has dropped from its most successful years. The company also faces tough competition from smartphones, AI video tools, creator platforms, and countless other ways to capture and share moments. While these facts are important, they don’t tell the whole story.

Some companies become bigger than the products they sell. GoPro did not just create an action camera category. It helped create a visual culture. It trained millions of people to see experience from the inside. It made perspective personal. That kind of emotional connection is hard to build. It is even harder to replace.

Reinvention Is the Photography Business

Having been involved in photography and imaging for over thirty years, I find the current moment at GoPro quite reminiscent. Back in 1990, ScanMyPhotos started as a cozy retail photo lab focused on film processing. Families would bring in their rolls of film, eagerly awaiting the results—those waiting moments truly added to the magic. Then, digital photography arrived, transforming the industry almost overnight. Many photo labs quietly disappeared, and entire business models were upended. Film was replaced by digital cameras, which later gave way to smartphones. Prints moved aside for cloud storage, camera rolls, and photo albums shifted to online feeds.

Every company in photography eventually faced the same question: reinvent or disappear.

At ScanMyPhotos, the technology changed, but the emotional mission did not. We evolved from developing pictures to helping families digitize printed photos, slides, negatives, videotapes, film reels, and archives so their memories could survive the next wave of change.

The tools change. The human need does not.

The Two Lives of Every Memory

Every memory has two lives. First, the moment happens. Years later, someone tries to hold onto it. GoPro made me think about the first half of memory: the living moment. The rush. The movement. The point of view. The feeling of being inside the experience. At photo digitizing companies, families send the second half of memory: the faded print, the shoebox no one has opened in years, the carousel of slides, the brittle home movie reel, the videotape no one can play anymore, and the envelope of old pictures with handwriting on the back from someone who is no longer here to explain who everyone was.

That is where preserving family memories becomes urgent. Not someday. Not eventually. Now. The real competitor is not another company. The real competitor is the calendar.

Here is the best way to digitize everything before time turns your family’s photos, slides, tapes, and films into stories no one can fully tell.

Ordinary Photos Become Priceless

I’ve spent almost forty years surrounded by family pictures, and I cherish the memories they hold. I remember the days when families would bring rolls of film to the lab, not knowing what moments they captured—birthdays, weddings, new babies, first cars, Little League games, family vacations, a father holding his child, a grandmother laughing in the kitchen — simple Tuesday moments that become priceless over time. That’s the magic of photographs: they wait until we’re ready to truly understand their significance, reminding us of the love and joy woven into our lives.

A picture that seemed ordinary in 1984 can become the only image left of someone in 2026. A blurry vacation snapshot can become a family treasure. A photo once tossed into a drawer can become the face everyone looks for when planning a memorial service.

The photo did not change. We did.

More Files, Fewer Stories

The creator economy is larger than ever. AI video tools are getting better. People create more video than any generation in history. Younger generations communicate visually first. Phones, cameras, apps, and cloud tools have made recording life easier than ever. Yet many people are drowning in footage while starving for meaning.

That is the strange problem of modern memory. We have more files. We do not always have better stories.

The same thing happens with old family photos. Families often have thousands of prints, slides, videos, and digital images scattered across boxes, phones, computers, cloud accounts, texts, and old devices. But if no one can find them, understand them, label them, or share them, those precious memories are still at risk. Saved simply means the file exists; preserved means someone can easily find it, understand why it matters, and share it again, keeping those memories alive and meaningful.

The Front Door and Back Door of Memory

GoPro helped me see the front door of memory: the moment of capture. Photo preservation helped me understand the back door of memory: the quiet work that years later, when families try to save what is left, carries it away.

Both sides are important, and every moment counts when it happens. As life changes, those memories become even more meaningful. That’s what I always find myself reflecting on. People aren’t just looking for pictures; they’re craving the chance to relive the feelings of that moment. They want proof that those days actually happened. Most of all, they want to hold onto the loved ones before the names, places, voices, and stories fade away.

Memory Is Proof

The photos are not just photos. They are proof.

This is proof that someone was here, loved, and that even ordinary lives hold incredible meaning. That’s why preserving family memories is so important. It’s not just about staying organized, cleaning out closets, or converting old things into digital formats. It’s about capturing emotional inheritance — the memories and feelings that shape us. This isn’t about money; it’s about something far more precious — the emotional legacy that, once lost, can never be replaced.

A box of old photographs can hold a family’s entire private history. It can hold the only wedding picture. The only image of a childhood home. The only photo of a father before he became Dad. The only moving picture of a grandmother’s voice, smile, or wave.

Those things are not clutter. They are the record of a life.

The Calendar Always Wins

Time is quietly passing by, and that’s what makes it so powerful. It doesn’t call out when a photo begins to fade or when a videotape loses its signal. It doesn’t tap you gently on the shoulder when the last person who knows the story behind a picture is getting older. It simply keeps moving forward, day after day. Every year, more prints fade. More slides shift color. More home movies become fragile. More videotapes move closer to being unplayable. More boxes move from closets to garages, then from garages to storage units, then to estate sale tables.

At some point, the family archive becomes a mystery box. That is the risk. Not just losing images. Losing meaning.

The Strange Memory Moment We’re In

We find ourselves in a fascinating ‘memory moment,’ where capturing moments is easier than ever. People are snapping more photos than ever before, filling up phones, clouds, and hard drives. Social feeds are constantly updated, making it feel like memories are everywhere. Yet, many families still cherish their most precious memories stored in older formats — printed photos, slides, negatives, VHS tapes, 8mm film, and Super 8 film. It’s a beautiful mix of the new and the nostalgic, reminding us of the importance of preserving our stories in every form.

These memories often aren’t searchable, shareable, or backed up, making them hard to find when a family suddenly needs them. They’re just waiting, and that waiting brings risk. That’s why the conversation about preserving family memories is so much bigger than any one company, service, app, or device. Whether a family chooses ScanMyPhotos.com, another trusted preservation service, a local photo shop, a library memory lab, or a DIY home scanner, the key is simply to get started.

Every saved photo is one less story lost.

A Comeback Is a Purpose Story

I’m not sure what lies ahead for GoPro, and honestly, no one really knows. But what I do believe is this: iconic companies aren’t just remembered for their tough times. They’re remembered for how they bounce back and what they become afterward. Sometimes, a crisis can even help a company rediscover its true purpose.

The photography industry understands this better than almost anyone. Film gave way to digital. Prints gave way to cloud storage. Albums evolved into online galleries, streaming memories, and social storytelling. The companies that survived were not always the ones with the cleanest short-term story. They were the ones that protected the emotional connection people had with their pictures.

That is why GoPro still interests me. Because GoPro was never simply about action cameras. It was about identity. Movement. Perspective. Proof that life was actually lived. That idea still matters.

The Future of Memory Is Still Human

The future of memory will include better cameras. Better phones. Better scanners. Better AI. Better search. Better tools to organize and restore what families already have. But the heart of it will still be human. A daughter seeing her mother as a young woman. A grandson discovering a military portrait no one ever showed him. A family finding wedding pictures they thought were gone. Someone preparing for a memorial service and seeing a face they were not ready to say goodbye to.

That is the real work. That is why preserving family memories matters. Not because old photos are paper. Because they are proof.

Start Before the Story Disappears

A photograph can live far beyond us. So can a home movie. So can a voice on an old videotape. So can a face in a faded print. But only if someone saves it. That is the lesson I came back to after thinking about GoPro, CES, cameras, storytelling, reinvention, and the question of a next act. Capture life while it is happening. Preserve it before time takes it away.

Because someday, what feels ordinary today may become the one thing your family is most grateful still exists. Every saved photo is one less story lost.

Frequently Asked Questions About Preserving Family Memories

Why is preserving family memories important? Preserving family memories matters because old photos, slides, negatives, videotapes, and film reels do not last forever. The bigger risk is losing the names, places, and stories behind them.

What is the biggest risk of waiting to digitize old photos? The biggest risk is not just image damage. It is story loss. Once the people who know the faces and places are gone, a family photo can become a mystery.

What did GoPro teach about memory? GoPro showed how powerful it is to capture the feeling of a moment. Years later, photo preservation protects those moments before time erases the image or the story.

Why does GoPro still matter to visual storytelling? GoPro helped change how people experience video. It moved viewers from watching action from the outside to feeling the point of view of the person living it.

Are old family photos worth saving? Yes. Old family photos are often the only visual proof of people, places, homes, celebrations, and everyday moments that shaped a family’s history.

What is the best way to start preserving family memories? Start with the photos, slides, tapes, or films that matter most. Label names when possible. Digitize them. Share them with family. Do not wait for the perfect system.

[Revised on June 19, 2026].

Related ScanMyPhotos.com Reading

For more on why old pictures should not wait, read The Real Competitor to Digitizing Pictures is Time: https://www.scanmyphotos.com/blog/2026/06/photo-scanning-services.html

For the modern version of memory overload, read Your Camera Roll Is Where Family Photos Disappear: https://www.scanmyphotos.com/blog/2026/06/your-camera-roll-is-where-family-photos-disappear.html

For families facing old boxes of pictures, read What To Do With Parents’ Old Photos: https://www.scanmyphotos.com/blog/2026/06/digitize-old-family-photos-12.html

For preserving the stories behind the images, read Ask These Questions Before Old Family Photos Become Mysteries: https://www.scanmyphotos.com/blog/2026/06/questions-about-old-photos.html

For helping younger generations care, read How To Share Family Photos So Children Actually Care: https://www.scanmyphotos.com/blog/2026/06/share-family-photos-grandchildren.html

For safe storage guidance, read 7 Places Your Photos Should Never Be Stored: https://www.scanmyphotos.com/blog/2026/06/storing-old-photos.html

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