One Second Everyday (For Five Months)

In this busy life of constant goings on and tight schedules, we often forget to simply take a reflective moment on what we’ve been doing. Sometimes we are so busy that when we do look back, we can’t remember doing anything at all, other than passing from one day to the next, going through the motions of life. Here I share with you, Manish‘s wonderful project, One Second Everyday. This video features one second of his life from each day of the past five months. Kindly, he agreed to answer a few questions about the project and how he feels to look back on nearly half a year of his life in such a compact way.

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Jamie: Manish, I really like the video, it’s an awesome way to look back over the past five months of your life and I think you have inspired me to do something similar during my next journey, so thank-you for this. Just as a brief summary, please explain what this video is.

Manish: That’s really good to hear. I take videos from my mobile phone everyday and choose one second from there. I have been doing this from September 13, 2013 without missing a single day. I started taking a one second video everyday after I had access to resources. I never had any video camera, so I couldn’t start before. I bought a mobile phone which could capture HD video, just so I could start this project.

What a brilliant project. What made you start it?

I always liked the idea of life tracking. I wanted to capture memories everyday because I loved to view them over time.

I used to look at old photos of my childhood and get very nostalgic. I could go back in time and enjoy that moment, even if it was just for a split second of time. I loved to do that.

It occurred to me that I didn’t want to miss any day or moment of my life. I then started looking for ways to capture memories everyday. I tried taking pictures and videos everyday, but it didn’t work because those ideas were too impractical.

One day, I came across a TED talk by Cesar Kurimaya. He explained about the One Second Project he was doing. And as soon as I watched his TED talk, I knew that was what I needed to do to capture everyday moments.

However, I didn’t have video camera to capture those moments. So, I bought a mobile phone and then started taking one second videos everyday.

The one second snap-shots generate intrigue and I’d love to see more of some of the places in your video. Where were these videos taken?

Most of the videos were recorded on Kathmandu, and some in Bhaktapur, Dhulikhel and Seto Gumba (Monastery). All those places lie in Nepal.

I like the huge variation in shots during this video. When you captured the shots, did you purposefully go out of your way to get certain shots or did you just take your camera with you and record what you saw?

This one second everyday project is the reminder of my life. Of what I did everyday. And I definitely didn’t want to see videos of my laptop screen everyday. So, most of the time, I went out to capture one second everyday. This is one of the major advantages of this project. Instead of sitting at your home starting laptop screen everyday, you go out to enjoy life. And in turn, you have a cool one second for the day.

However, I don’t always go out to take one second. It’s just a reminder that I shouldn’t stay inside staring at the laptop screen whole day. The reason I choose mobile phone, instead of a video camera to record these one second is because I have mobile phone with myself every time. So, if there’s something interesting happening, I’ll take out my mobile phone and record right away. It also doesn’t take as much space as a video camera.

If there’s nothing interesting, then I’ll take the video of the place and then choose one second from there. It’s all about where you went, what you did and what you saw. So, I try to keep it as real as possible, to not go out of way to capture certain type of artistic shot.

If anyone wants to take one second everyday, I’d recommend that they use mobile phone to capture. It’s because you have access to your mobile phone all day, whereas you might forget to bring your video recorder with you every day.

Five months is a long time and so many of us forget what we do everyday. When you watch this back, what feelings do you have? Can you remember where and why each image was captured?

I was very afraid that I’d forget some day. Fortunately, that hasn’t happened yet. I nearly forgot to take one day. When I was sleeping, I got the feeling that I was missing something. And I remembered that I hadn’t recorded my one second that day, so I quickly woke up and took one second of my bed, and then slept again. I’m taking this project seriously at the moment. And I wish to do it as long as I can.

I get lots of feelings when I look back at those moments. It’s weird but I experience the exact feeling for the day when I took that day’s one second footage. If I was sad when I took a particular one second, I can feel it when I watch that one second. I remember that moment and the day. I can’t even explain those feelings. I feel nostalgic most of the time. And most of the time I thank my older self for capturing the video. This project has also showed me the time travels pretty fast. I can’t believe it’s 5 months already. It feels like I took those videos just some days ago.

I remember where and why each video was captured. I can remember the whole day through that one second. I can’t explain exactly how, but you’ll have to do it yourself to figure it out.

I also get chance to revaluate how I spend each day.

When you cut it together, how did you choose which one second to use? Condensing a whole day into a single second must have been difficult.

This is pretty difficult. Some days there are lots of cool one second videos. For example: A video of a friend who I met after a long time vs. my sister’s wedding. Which one second should I choose if both of those events occur in the same day?

It’s pretty difficult at times, but I’ve figured that taking one second from either will work as a chain for the other one. I can remember that I met an old friend after watching the one second of my sisters wedding.

Finally, how long will you keep this project going for?

I don’t know. I want to carry on this project as far as I can. Taking one second videos is all possible because I have resources to take those videos. If I lose my mobile phone for a day, then I’ll be in great trouble. Maybe these type of situation will stop me from taking one second videos some day. But, I have no plans to stop it myself. I want to make this my life long project.

I would love to see the one second life video!

Big thanks to Manish for sharing his thoughts and opinions on this brilliant project. Why not try a one second movie project yourself?

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ManishEnwilAbout Manish

For more from Manish, please head to Enwil.com, his self-improvement blog that offers instant practical philosophy advice to live and enjoy your life to the fullest extent. For regular updates, you can also subscribe to his newsletter, follow his Facebook page, or follow him on Twitter.

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By | 2018-03-01T09:48:43+00:00 February 17th, 2014|Thoughts and Inspiration|0 Comments

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