One Second Every Day + Photo Prompts: Photography Week Three

Project One: 1 Second Every Day

At the beginning of the month, I listened to a Podcast about a guy named Cesar Kuriyama.  He is involved in an on-going project of documenting his life by filming one second of each day in hopes of creating lasting memories of the year, in one six minute video.  Though at first I thought this was a little silly to be filming one second every day, I was intrigued by his thought process behind this idea.  With only taking a few seconds out of his day, he was able to capture something that truly reflected his every day life- the good and the bad.  It wasn't about capturing those "picture perfect" moments (though sometimes those do happen!), but it was about capturing little bits of his daily grind.  Capturing these moments by video added a whole different aspect over just taking a photo.  Hearing the sounds, and seeing a live moment in time can trigger memories that a photograph may not.  Anyways, this guy turned his idea into an app called "1 Second Every Day".  I downloaded the app and decided to give it a go.  I started on a Thursday, and decided to see where it took me.  I decided if I didn't like having to commit to this, I would simply not continue with it...

I've now completed almost one month and I definitely have mixed reviews.  I LOVE seeing the end results and I was really into it the first week.  I found though, that because I don't always have my phone on me (probably more of you do?), there were really cool moments that I thought would have been awesome to capture, but I ended up just doing a random second at the end of the day just to have something.  Lol.  I can't help but laugh at myself for this.  One day Zack and I did SO many cool things, and all I ended up capturing was me brushing my teeth at the end of the day.  This however, doesn't seem all that bad to me.  I would hate for something such as this to become a focus OVER top of just enjoying these moments.  Because in the end, is it really that important that we remember all these details?  Or is it more important that we enjoy the moment we are in, and even though we can't remember every detail, we are just ...happy?  Now that's a question to ponder.  Either way, I have been continuing with this project, but just not sweating the details.  If I miss a day, that's okay.  And if I happen to capture a really cool moment, that's awesome!  Anyways, here's the last 26 days of my life in 26 seconds:

Project Two: Photo Prompts for F28 
One way I got involved this month with Chiang Mai Month of Photography (f28) was taking part in a a photo competition.  They listed prompt words for every day of the month and you can submit your photos through either Facebook or Instagram to enter the challenge.  I took part in this competition for just one week and had a lot of fun with it.  (submitted through my Instagram account @sarahreim).  They choose a winner each day and I won for the word "creativity"!  (super stoked!).  Here is what I captured:

1 // EXCITEMENT
I didn't actually submit this one, as I started a little too late.  BUT, these are some pretty excited kindergarten kids that I had the privilege of teaching this past week.  They were such a joy!

2 // PEACE

Morning light pours over the Chiang Mai Railway Station. It is the quiet before the storm. It is the end of the railway line- no one rushes through this place. You are either now home, or embarking on a new journey. Sometimes I see people from the Hill Tribes coming back to this station, their backs loaded up with food and other goods to bring back to where they're from. To me, this photograph speaks Peace. 

3 // COFFEE

It just so happened that I had already made plans to go for coffee that day and so this one was easy.  This coffee was almost too pretty to drink!  I've mentioned before how Chiang Mai has amazing coffee shops.  This photo was taken at Woo Cafe and Art Gallery, where they also have amazing looking cakes and good looking food on the menu.  They sell ceramics and also have an art gallery upstairs.

4 // FRAME

One of the first things you learn when studying photography is how to frame a photo or set it up so it is visually balanced.  This is my own twist on framing a photo.  Taken at Huay Tung Tao Lake, just north of Chiang Mai.  Zack and I sometimes head up here after work (it's about a 30 minute drive on our motor bike).  I really love coming up here.

5 // CREATIVITY

Creativity isn't always pretty, but it is always interesting.

This photo was taken near Warorot Market (I wrote about that market a couple weeks ago.  See more photos here.)  I am really excited to say that this photo one the photo of the day!

6 // FLOWERS

Wrapped in newspaper is how you'll find the flowers from the market.  These ones are compliments to my husband, Zack.  

7 // RED

Last Sunday, our landlord invited us over for dinner. Little did we know that her son was a trained chef, who would be cooking a VERY impressive meal for us, and teaching us a few things in the process.  Pictured here is an authentic northern Thai red curry.  It was as flavourful as it was colourful.