A Glimpse of Life: One Second of Video, Every Day, for a Year

For every day between his 29th and 30th birthday, Seth shot a second of video. Instead of a cohesive narrative or linear story, it’s a series of flashes from someone’s life – a very quick (and surprisingly intimate) look inside someone else’s activities, celebrations, friends.

Despite each segment of video lasting only a second, I found myself piecing together things on my own. I would apply histories to faces that recurred, trying to determine who was family, friend, lover. The mind works on its own to fill in the gaps, as we are creatures of stories. It’s hard not to, really.

A majority of the videos were pretty mundane: reading, watching TV, a laundry-basket full of socks. But somehow, these details made the whole thing seem that much more intimate. And they also provided a contrast to some of the more surprising moments: like a fireman walking down an apartment hallway, shown with little to no explanation (though I loved that the video to follow was of a friend, smoking).

What wondrous and rich lives we all have, seemingly invisible to one another. Watching this video, I feel overcome with sonder.

[via BoingBoing]

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3 Years, 3 Minutes
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows