I am a daily vlogger.

This is something that not many people can claim, and some aren’t even aware of what it is, despite it’s growing popularity on Youtube.  Daily vlogging is taking a camera and filming everything that happens throughout your entire day, every day.  Then, the next day, what was filmed the previous day has to be edited and uploaded.  Therefore, as uncommon as being a daily vlogger is, it is even more uncommon to be a teenaged daily vlogger.  it is a ton of responsibility, and there are no days off or holidays, but it is something I have found to be the most rewarding and exciting thing in the world.

It all started in early March of 2013.  By this timeI had been watching professional vloggers Charles and Alli Trippy for more than two years, and I finally decided that vlogging was something i really wanted to pursue.

However, I know it would be boring with just me, and I needed a partner in crime.  So as anyone would do when the lightbulb goes on with a great idea, I texted my best friend, junior Zachary Goodwin.  I told him of my master plan, and he was almost immediately on board and willing to participate.

That Friday, I went to Zach’s house after school, and the idea quickly became a reality.  We spent almost an hour deliberating on the name before we settled on CAPTURZvlogs.  We knew we wanted to involve the word “capture” because we saw and continue to see vlogging as capturing our lives, but we also needed to make it our own.  So we dropped the ‘e’ and added an RZ for Rocquel and Zach, and CAPTURZvlogs was born.

The very next day, March 16, 2013, we began filming our lives.  We spread the word through Facebook and other social media, and quickly began gaining a small audience.  Our friends and family were not only supportive of us bringing cameras everywhere and filming them, but began to look forward to being in the vlogs and getting to watch themselves the next day. I was even recognized on the third day of school by freshman Charli Drialo, whom I had never met, but she had known plenty about me just from youtube.

In July we were contacted by Youtube concerning our interest in being Youtube partners, and getting paid for allowing ads to be placed on our videos for money.  We immediately accepted and were overjoyed that our hard work was beginning to pay off, and still is today. Today we have 41 subscribers, or people who follow our videos daily, 405 videos, (401 vlogs, and some bonus videos) and 7,468 total views.  We just recently passed our initial goal of one year, celebrated with a video of all of our greatest moments, and have decided to go for two.

However, vlogging to Zach and I was never about and is not about money or popularity.  It is really about the memories we now have available to us to access anytime.  How many people remember what they ate for breakfast on June 8, 2013?  How well could I remember the fun we had on a trip to Ocean City with family? Or, how well could I remember the grief and loss we felt when Zach’s brother passed away in an accident.  Others who also mourned his loss watched that vlog, making it our most viewed video to date. If we really wanted to go back to any of these times in our life, we could. Sometimes, I’ll go back and watch a vlog and think, “Wow, I had completely forgotten that we did that.”  We as humans can’t remember all the little details of our lives, but with Youtube I have them recorded forever.  Just recently I lost my great grandmother whom I was very close with, and if I ever want to see her or hear her voice, I can go back and watch the vlog of her last birthday, where she opens presents, tells stories, and celebrates with her family.

In the end, that is what this is truly about for both of us, remembering our high school years as they were, the good, the bad, and the weird, and having something interesting and different that is all our own every single day, even in the face of the tragedies life sometimes brings.