One Second Video

At the beginning of 2018, I sat with Leigha at our kitchen table as she contemplated whether or not she should download the app 1 Second Everyday and document the year. We weighed the pros and cons, and I came back to her with “well it’s only $5.99 for a lifetime of memories” which made her pull the trigger. She flipped the question back to me, to which I replied “oh no, $5.99 is too much”. Yes, I’m a hypocrite.

I caved later that evening. Soleil also joined in too, so our whole household was in for the long, grueling haul of documenting our year in seconds. In the days that followed, we constantly checked in with each other on how our videos were going and often did goofy things for a video if someone was missing one for the day.

I loved it. I absolutely loved filming a little clip throughout the day. All throughout January, and various parts of the year, I uploaded two seconds every day (#doubledays yaaaaas) because I was having SO MUCH FUN. There also just seemed to be so much good stuff happening too. Everything from grocery store outings with roommates to Green Lake runs to scenic airplane window sunsets became fair game. I would have to say, this little project bolstered my creative juices and made me think about what to film, where to film, and how to film to make the video the most interesting it could be.

I felt like I was being pushed to do more. Everyday was a new challenge to try something new, explore a different spot, or reach out to someone I hadn’t seen in a while. Through all of this, I tried to seek out the really good moments throughout the day - and there’s a lot of them. Any moment can be turned into something funny, cool, or interesting no matter how big or small it may seem. There are triumphant moments with big accomplishments like completing a half marathon and tiny occasions like a sunset at Gas Works.

With my video always at the back of my mind, it made me question what do I actually want to document? What’s worth documenting and what’s worth just enjoying in the moment. Finding a balance was an overarching lesson and ultimately real life experiences trumps all. In many of the raw videos. you’ll hear me screaming “ONE SECOND VIDEO” at everyone, signaling people to move into frame because I forgot to grab something before.

The biggest thing I quickly realized was that people were the most important things of my 2018. I had so much fun documenting my friends and family even though I know they HATED my obsession with my one second video (I saw y’all rolling your eyes). I met a lot a people and kept many old friends, and they all put up with my one second video obsession.

The jury is still out on whether or not I’ll continue for a season 2 (aka 2019 one second video) but I had a lot of fun with this one. Enjoy the extremely long video below!