Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn (flickr)
On his 30th birthday, Cesar Kuriyama quit his job in advertising and started recording one second of his life, every day.
Kuriyama explained his project on a Reddit thread someone created about his video that showcases one-second snapshots of his 30th year.
According to Kuriyama, posting under the Reddit username embrionyc, the project began after he took a year off from 100-plus hour workweeks and began to evaluate his life.
During that year, he dedicated his time to “more personal creative endeavors.” He took a roadtrip, crashing on couches. He also flew to Peru for free by travel-hacking.
And, along the way, he made sure to log his life in the form of short bits of video, which he later pieced together to form something that resembles a work of art–a year of a man’s life compressed into less than seven minutes.
The purpose of this project, for Kuriyama, was more than to just create a scrapbook that he could reflect upon later in his life.
In his audition video for a TED Talk he gave in March, Kuriyama explained that the project caused him to re-evaluate how he was spending his time. He described it as a “perpetual reminder to wake up and seize the day.”
Kuriyama wants to release an app that would make it easy for people to create their own video scrapbooks and, in turn, live more inspired lives. The Kickstarter project for his “1 Second Every Day” app has raised more than $50,000, well over his original goal of $20,000.
By showcasing the fleeting passage of time and at once demonstrating the depth of his experience, Kuriyama’s video serves as a reminder to cherish every moment and to cast away the routine in favor of adventure and excitement.
If we realize that most of our one-second snapshots consist of us being too passive or doing things we don’t enjoy, maybe we’ll realize that it might be time to pursue something more satisfying, or to simply get out there and do.
Update (1/12/13): Due to its success as a Kickstarter project, Cesar Kuriyama officially launched his 1 Second Everyday app this Thursday! It can be purchased from the app store for .99 cents.
Related articles
- 1 Second Everyday – Cesar Kuriyama (itunes.apple.com)
