… this fun image shot using both a GorillaPod and a GorillaTorch.  A GorillaPod Focus supported the camera and a GorillaTorch Flare was used write the text. I say that is doubly awesome!

And even more impressive is this super-sized model of the GorillaPod Original that they built from molded Styrofoam! Originally used to promote JOBY tripods at a tradeshow, the Godzilla of GorillaPods now lives on the main sales floor of Australia’s largest independent camera store, Michaels of Melbourne. How cool is that?!?

Thanks Maxwell! You rock! Now if you could just make another 8 foot GorillaPod for us to display at the SF Office …

***

Now is your chance to improve your photography with a free webinar hosted by our friends at Lowepro. Professional photographer Jack Atley from Australia with share his advice on how to take award-winning shots and also answer any of your photography questions. The webinar is on Wednesday October 19th from 4 pm – 5 pm PST or 8 pm – 9 pm PST (EDIT: If you missed it, here’s the recorded Jack Atley Webinar). Sign up and more information are here. I’ll sure be there! And below are a few of Jack’s amazing photos to get you psyched on the class.

Winner of the Open Section of The 2011 Moran Photographic Prize …

And a few that caught my eye …

Have an awesome weekend folks!

JOBY will be hosting a party on April 21st at our JOBY headquarters to celebrate our new visual identity. Swing by and test drive our soon-to-be-launched iPhone App, hear from Robert Lang – Origami expert, and enjoy food, drink and other fun times with the JOBY crew.

We are gearing up for a very exciting holiday season at JOBY. Besides the normal work stuff, recipes are being discussed, travel plans are being arranged and the desserts keeps piling in.

In advance of the holidays, the gift guides keep pouring in. This week Wired ranked the Gorillatorch Switchback #2 in their December 100 Things We Want. Videomaker kicked off their gift guide with the JOBY GorillaPod Focus with Ballhead X as the ultimate gift for the video producer. In addition,  Gizmodo officially gave the GorillaTorch Blade, their seal of approval.

GDGT

Last week, JOBY was happy to be part of GDGT goodness held at the Galleria in San Francisco. We discovered many things, must notably, people LOVE magnets. Here are some not-so-fabulous pics of the event set up. Thanks to our design team for helping out and to the one person who was cool enough to fully embrace the dork factor of a  headlamp in a packed group of people.

And, finally a lovely trip to the Netherlands with this short movie entitled “A Day in the Life of a Bicycle” by Jeroen Klogieters.

A day in the life of a Bicycle [SHORT FILM] from jeroen Klokgieters on Vimeo.

To set the stage for this transformational outdoor lighting product, we launched the product in true JOBY fashion, with a party. Tent City  took place at the the Log Cabin in the Presidio  and was a WILD success – even the rainy SF weather didn’t stop us! The Gorillatorch Switchback made its debut, lighting the venue and the massive Snow Peak tents.

Even Davy Crocket would be proud.

Guests enjoyed cocktails expertly mixed by Rye on the Road while nibbling on delicious bites offered by Nicole LoBue of LoBue Events (seriously these were fantastic).  The interior of the Log Cabin was tastefully curated by Jonathan Siegel of Viracocha SF with a collection of antiques, unique furnishings, art and other assorted rarities from his Mission based store. Riley Johndonnell, a San Francisco/New York based experimental artist, created an art piece inspired by “Nature or things found in Nature”. The two part installation entitled “WILDLIFE”, utilized text based sculptures to explore the double life of our vocabulary for animals, objects as well as our actions within nature.

Pro Team member, Jed Conklin, provided us with amazing photographs to showcase the inspiration for Gorillatorch Switchback.

Thank you so much to everyone who came out, it was a blast!

You can see more photos here.

Plus, enjoy the beautifully designed tents and camping related products  made by our event partner, Snow Peak, a Japanese outdoor lifestyle company and winner of the 2010 ICFF Editors Award for Outdoor Furniture.

Join us if you can!

In advance of the event we spent time cleaning up the space and sprucing it up to make it look just right for the intimate event. Heidi and I bonded as we hung pictures and struggled to get it just right (yes, it is harder when the floor is uneven).

And so the event begins….

Eric shoots fabulous shots… which unfortunately will never be seen due to a theft in our office:(. Boo to thieves.

Forrest introduces Patrick Trefz and his beautifully filmed work.

Patrick sets the tone…

…and the film begins!

Some seats are better than others.

Check out more photos from the event in our flickr pool!

The highlight of the day for us was the high tech wizardry meets some funny dance moves provided by ArcAttack. The Tesla Coils throw out huge electrical arcs of 1/2 million volt sparks and make an amazing amount of noise as the ArcAttack member clothed in a lightweight chain mail outfit does his thing to the music. It is very much Robin Hood meets Star Wars with a little Revenge of the Nerds thrown in for good merit.

Here is a fun shot we got while at the Maker Faire and to give you a fuller understanding a video of ArcAttack  in another venue.

And, in case you have been desperately seeking a better way  to give out t-shirts, Microsoft Robotics has you covered.

Oakland has accomplished what many other cities did not. It maintained and expanded its beautiful art museum without sacrificing exhibition space for architectural ego. The Oakland Museum of California was closed for 28 months for a $58 million renovation and reinstallation. The original building, groundbreaking with its naturalized planted terraces, built in 1969 by Kevin Roche, was a series of concrete structures that mirrored the nearby topography. The museum’s challenge was to expand the galleries within the overall footprint without compromising the intent and effect of the landscape architecture.

The new updates include; sculpture and roof gardens designed by Dan Kiley and a new top floor with an expansive California art collection. The spirit of the collection puts a Grace Hudson atmospheric depiction of a Pomo Indian in proximity to Mel Ramos’ larger than life centerfold fantasia as well as to Richard Diebenkorn’s abstracted landscapes and generations of assorted carvings and macrame.

Entrance to Art Galleries - Oakland Museum of California Art

The art collection is installed thematically and actively seeks to engage through the use of questions and interactive art projects. A particular fun example of this was the “Is It Art? Lounge,” where museum goers can grab pink and green tickets marked with either yes or no and vote on 3 pieces decide for themselves if what they are looking at is art or not.

Voting

For the celebration,  the museum opened its doors Saturday morning for 31 hours straight – in honor of California’s status as the 31st state.  An exhaustive list of multi-sensory around-the-clock activities were planned. Night owls were encouraged to stay and wear their pajamas. I found myself walking through crowded galleries with gutsy attendees wandering in their robes at 9 PM. This spirit of interactivity was clearly catching; everyone felt like neighbors and they eagerly discussed the art and got up close and personal.

While I was unable to catch the  8 AM Yoga class on Sunday, I did go to the Indian Bangara dancing where I was amazed to see hundreds of people in a multi-purpose room like setting swarm the area around the stage to learn some Bollywood moves. I finally left at 11pm when the incoming traffic seemed to outnumber the departing. The arriving grandmas just made me smile. How awesome to see a Museum as a true meeting place for all people to interact.

Recently, we celebrated our new office space with a lively and fun filled party aka Joby Lab Launch + Liquor. Over 200 people joined us to eat, drink, mingle and even dance a little. The drinks flowed liberally as we feted our lovely new setup designed by Philip Wood & CITIZEN: Citizen along with Derek Chen the rest of the Council design team who crafted the amazing white tables that you see in the pictures below.

In addition, we inaugurated the Joby Inspired: Wall -  a curated space which showcases creative work whose goal is to inspire and foster new ways of viewing. Philip Wood blessed us by setting the bar high with the showcasing of his new work titled The Pattern of Security series of objects derived and inspired by data protection envelopes. In Philip’s words:

The Pattern of Security, a collection of products and a book, together form what we see as a first draft, a response and an observation on our concerns (both real and imagined) with security in the contemporary age.

Philip Wood - The Pattern of Security

Our space was further enhanced with a collection of found photographs (visible on most of the walls) by Rich Hansen from Indicate Design Group. Thank you Rich!

We even created some fun pictures ourselves  with the help of an instant back resulting in a cool vintage feeling photographs.

Mingling

See more photos from the party in our  flickr pool.