hey, you're all here.. right?

hey guys.

so, you're all using blogger, and if you're not, i don't know why you're not..

anyway, you should be.

and if you're on here, follow my new 365: http://heyitsashleyyc.blogspot.com/

-ashleycoppolino

Let The Commercial Making Begin!

So, this week was really focused on film making. I didn't exactly get in front of or behind the camera lens, but we did storyboard.
Storyboarding a a major part of putting together a film. Even though we're aiming for a thirty-second film, there's a lot to be sorted out. For example, Ilana and I discussed what we were going to say and what we were going to take shots of to put with the audio.
There's pros and cons to storyboarding. One pro is that you don't waste time when you're filming-you know what you're filming, or at least have a base for your film. The con is that you draw out what you imagine, but it doesn't actually look like hwat you want it to.
I don't want to come off by critizing myself, but I know the type of personality I have. I like to do things on my own.. I don't know why I'm this way, but it has its pros and cons too. The hard part about working with a partner is that our decisions don't exactly match up. We both have great comments and visions, they just don't mesh like peanut butter and jelly, if you get my metaphor.
Either way the film goes, it should be a good thirty seconds of a successful commercial.

-ashleycoppolino

New Daily Practice

I'm already doing a photo a day, but I don't feel like I benefit from it.

I decided to write some sort of poem a day-it can increase my expressing in few words or more and make my writing better, I guess.

It seems fun to me.. It's not photography, but I like it just as much.

I'm not going to say that I don't like the things I write, but this is only the beginning of something bigger and better.

Follow it if you wish: http://heyitsashleyyc.blogspot.com/

(they're all written on the correct day, I just post them in bundles)

-ashleycoppolino

Thanksgiving Week

Happy Thanksgiving all of you.

This time of the year I start to think about my family- who they are to me and why I love them. I don't have the worst family in the world, and I know they're not the best, but they are mine and I wouldn't trade them for the world. For them, I am thankful.

Obviously my parents, brothers, cousins, aunts and uncles are family, but I also consider STAC a family. We all throw around the concept that we're a big family, but I actually mean it. The people that sit in that room are the only people that actually see my flaws because I let them, they know who I am without me trying to show it. I'm thankful for that.

I thought about it, and Thanksgiving is the holiday which we celebrate because we took away the land from someone else and claimed our own. I don't know how to think of the holiday since I realized that large factor. Now it just seems like a family dinner with overeating. And yes, I'm thankful for that too.

-ashleycoppolino

Halloween Weekend!

BOO!

did I scare you?

Well, this Halloween I went to the parade down in NYC. IT was so fun! I dressed up as this distressed zombie, and I would just jump at people and scare them. It was so much fun.
I made it into the parade, so I was being creepy and walking up to people on the barricade and getting in their face. I screamed at people and they screamed in fear back. I don't think I would have been able to do this without the liminal acting skills I've been able to develop. I was in character 90% of the time. The other 10% was spent jumping around with people dressed up as Toucan Sam, Ke$ha, and other zombies.


Back to STAC..
The movie was a fail on Friday, so we're kickin' it up with a party on Monday! The movie was really good, to start with. I constantly find myself thinking in shots, which is cool, but a bit annoying. This movie had a bunch of creative shots, which had my mind going crazy to film a movie.
& book making! Another year with Karl! You'd expect to be better the second time around, which I guess I am, since I knew what we were doing, but not all the time.

Be seeing you,

-ashleycoppolino

So many many many many things.

I'm not complaining, I promise.

There's just so many things to do! Study for this, study for that, apologize for that, photos for her, meeting to discuss that, send this to them, print that thing, make these better... get my point?

Don't get me wrong, really. I love being busy. I love that feeling of accomplishment, like when you can look at what you've done in a final piece instead of it being scattered. I honestly like the constant flow of having something to do. Key word is flow, not all at one moment. I have so many things to do, which is why I'm venting to you Bloggers.

But any who, the trip! I'm so mad I missed it! It sounds like you all had a lot of fun.. Hopefully we'll go back! But I'm not going to lie to you all, I had a blast even though I missed the trip.

here I am,

-ashleycoppolino

To Be Honest / Be Kind Rewind

To be honest, I do not like The Prisoner. I don't know, there's something lacking, the thing that intrigues me. No one take offense, but it's boring to me. It's constant episodes of someone not being able to complete what he wants. I blame modern TV for making me not enjoy The Prisoner. Modern television 99% of the time gives the audience the information they want to know right away, so I feel like I have become greedy with wanting to know everything about the show. But the problem is that all the information isn't given, it's left to be figured out, which is good, but I just can't stand it.

Be Kind Rewind! They're always fun. They never come out perfect, or the way you see it in your head, but like I said, they're always fun. My group's movie went first. It was about four teens who discussed "If I Ever.." and they answered the question with the personal answer. Our movie was laughed at, which is understandable, but since we had limited time, we rushed the concept which was supposed to be a serious drama. Even though I did Be Kind Rewind last year, I still miss the editing factor. If this movie was edited with the flashback effects, the re-takes and music, it would probably be understood more clearly. It was fun to do this with all newbies too. It was so funny when everyone got excited about filming and running around the school; it was like five kids in a candy shop. Even though filming was a last year thing, it should be a thing for this year too. It's fun but full of experience.

-ashleycoppolino

10/1/10 (First Field Trip For STAC 2010-2011)

There were too many good parts of this trip to mention them all.

Although, I do have a favorite part.

MoMA was having this event where you get the option to scream at the top of your lungs into a microphone. Probably not my favorite thing to do. My heart was racing, as if I was going to do something wrong even though the guard said that's what the microphone was there for. I didn't want to do it. I went up to the microphone, but chickened out (see first photo - totally candid!). But then I got up there, in front of the microphone and screamed at the top of my lungs. To this day, that was the best feeling in the world. It was a large empty space with a microphone and two speakers waiting for people to scream. It was moment changing. (see second photo - screaming super high pitched and loud!)

In the few seconds that I screamed, I felt like no one heard me. I closed my eyes and let out what I held inside for so long. And when I walked away from that microphone, I wanted everyone do scream. I wanted everyone to feel the feeling I felt. It was like my whole body rewinded and restarted. It was so amazing. My lungs felt clear where I could say anything.

After that, I just kept singing words to songs all around New York City. Once again, it didn't feel like anyone heard me. It was like I was singing to myself out loud. But I had a group-Star Fuckers (OOF!) (see photo 3!)- that was there to back me up and support me.

By far, the best trip yet.

-ashleycoppolino

Psychogoeography Again

I understood liminal space as the in-between of two sections. I photographed the center. The center is always noticed in a photo, it's the focal point. The center is usually the in-between of the area. I've never noticed how much I'm pushing myself in the center to be stuck in the middle of back and forward. The middle is simply the barricade of left and right/up and down. The barricade, which is the liminal space, creates boundaries that shows off the space, the "in-between-ness", that has been created.

-ashleycoppolino

Spy No More

The spy game was a lot of fun, I'm not going to lie. It's that type of fun like when you're at the top of a roller coaster and you're about to fall. It's the thrill that kept people interested. The not knowing if you're going to die before you kill someone else and the adventure you had.

But it got to a point where the game lost control. It was no longer a game, it was becoming a part of my life. I'd snoop around during school to gather information, and I wouldn't let go of my bag or take notes from anyone. All the people I trusted suddenly became strangers that I'd distant myself from.

Everything started to get in my head. I would get stressed out on how to kill and how to recruit. I found out what I needed to know and used it against other people.

This wasn't the way I wanted to get to know people, or have them get to know me. I'm not the sneaky control freak that this game turned me into. The people I trusted made it seem so easy to lie. I was bugging out because everything I believed about people was proven wrong in a game. Honestly, I got to know people too well. When you meet someone, you're supposed to be introduced to the friendly front that the person puts on, and the friendship grows from there. This game has showed people at their worst; competitive, sneaky, unbelievable.

The game's been fun, truthfully. I just don't want to play it again right away.

I had a dream.

It's 9 pm. I just took that afternoon nap that has nicely fit its way in my schedule every day of the week. & I had a dream. No, not the kind that Martin Luther King, Jr. had, but just a dream. It was about all the evils of the world being lifted and put in my possession. I guess you could use the term "normally" loosely, but normally people have dreams involving good news or something scary like falling off a cliff, but having all the evils in the world handed to you is not your typical afternoon dream.

I don't know why I remember this dream so clearly. I remember the faces that handed me each bad problem, it was like it happened in real life. The people were so unexpected. I know I have seen them before, I had to. They were the people I felt bad for, like cancer victims, less fortunate people than me and others; they all came to me.

It's not like I go out looking for trouble every day. It pretty much knows my address. Having all these problems on me, people looking at me for the cure to cancer, the money to fund children's educations and a family looking for food.. it was overwhelming that it didn't feel like a dream.

Here I am, after my reviving nap on a comfy sofa with a fuzzy warm blanket, and I lay here without answers for anyone. I can't even help myself these days.

-ashleycoppolino

Psychogoeography

For my psycho-geography assignment, i decided to photograph the world we see from a different level. It's still the same surroundings, but from the floor. It's like a different perspective. This was interesting because we're used to looking down for the floor, but when I got down, you only had to look straight. From a different level & angle, your everyday life can look so different. Originally I wanted to pick something with photographing shoes, which now that I say it like that, sounds really stupid. But instead of photogr

aphing the shoes, I decided to be the shoes. We walk in them everyday, it's how we get around. Everyone has a different story that we're able to show, but our shoes simply go where th

ey are told and I wanted to experience being that low for a little bit.

i spy/i know

The spy game that we've been playing was so much fun. It's very new, so it was confusing at first. Somewhere along the road this could be a really well played game.

I guess this spy game is like life. If you know too much that you shouldn't, you'll be called out on it. The game of spies didn't always seem fair, like when one team was assembled and other agents were behind.. but not everyone does every move together.

On the topic of The Prisoner... I'm not completely won over like most of the class is. We saw two episodes? Patrick McGoohan is very suave when he says his small comment and it just seems so right. He believes these people that interact with him so quickly, which is weird because I never thought people in a government job trusted others so easily.

It's weird how much I didn't know this time last year. Like when the new STACies did The Machine, that was me last year. Not that anyone did it wrong, but it was weird how everyone lined up but all the other STACies created levels and depth.. It was interesting to see. I'm pretty sure this time last year I was thinking how to be original, which I sometimes still do, but I'm so much happier without thinking about it. This time last year, I feel like I was so 'blah'. I was going through my 365 because I thought my life was boring, but I think in the course of when i started it, I began doing other things and hanging out with different people. I like where I'm heading, finally.

That's it for this post.

-ashleycoppolino

New School Year/Big Blob

What'd I do over the summer? I remember the last day of school like it was yesterday. I remember saying that I wanted to clean my room and organize my computer plus a bunch of other things I wanted to do but never did. The only reason I know the summer went by as it did is because I have a 365 to look back on every day (www.flickr.com/heyitsashleyy). Anywho, the year is here and it's not stopping... until 2012, maybe. :)

The blob? I'm confused. I get that it's supposed to be a monster and you don't want to interact with the blob, but where do you go if you do interact with it? How did the main character get to where he is? Why can't he leave? And what's with the paranoia?

It reminds me of Inception, the mixture of reality and a surreal world.

It also reminds a little bit of a film-ish thing I did with Kalli a few weeks ago. There was a monster involved where it chased the character around just like the one in "The Prisioner". Even though we didn't complete that film, we ended up doing another one which was fine.

Back on topic though.. I think I'd like the show more if I could answer the questions running through my head: "why do people want to know about him?" "why won't he tell people about himself?" "why did he resign from his career in politics?" "who is he?" "where is this village?" "why can't he leave the village!" "why are they constantly watching his moves, but no one else's?" "does anyone else want to leave? can they?"

If these questions could be answered, I'm sure the how would intrigue me more that it did.

I'm not saying I didn't like it, I'm just saying that I'm confused!

Rob!

Working with Rob was really cool.

When I take pictures, I usually put a meaning behind it, but this workshop took it to the next level. He had us write a secret down on a piece of paper. The next assignment was to go outside and photograph something/someone that would associate with your secret. It was supposed to make it feel like you relieve your secret but no one knows what it is, which means it's still a secret.. but it feels good that you're not holding it in because you sort of released it. I don't know how to explain it, Rob explained it better!

But the second assignment was to stand on a blank white piece of paper and think about your secret and have your partner photograph you while thinking about it. I thought about it in depth, actually. I kept coming up with questions, which made me think, which made an interesting picture.

overall, it was really fun, and it can be a cool photography project in my future.

Book Binding Session Three

Today we had ot think of ideas for our book making project.

It may not have seemed like I did a lot, but looks can be deceiving.

My idea: A book for my 365 project.

I thought of putting one picture per page, but buying 365 sheets of paper is going to be a challenge.

So i thought of putting two pictures on a page. I love the idea, but I bought paper already and wrote my name on the book, so there's no way I could return it and there's no way to solve my problem of not large enough paper.

But, two photos fit. It's not what I wanted, but it's what I'll compromise for.

The cover of my book is going to look like a calander and then in the center it will say 365 with my name below.

I decided I'm going to make a book that is looped. I don't know the proper term for it, but I want a metal piece to loop through the pages to hold the book together.

I decided it that way so it will be like a 365 flip book of photos.

On each page will be two aligned photos which are measured to be centered and above the photo will be the date and the number out of 365 that day was. For example, "1/365: January 30, 2010". Below the photo will be the little blurb from that day. For example, "I started this day off with a fresh shower to start my 365 Project!" I want to hand write all the writing parts in this book to make it 100% mine.

Can't wait to have another session with Karl!

Book Binding Day Two

Karl came back! I was surprised that he was willing to survive another couple of hours with us since he figured out that we are looney. Today we added covers to our books. Before it was just plain paper with string holding it together. But today it's amazing. We used this really cool thing to hold it together -Elmer's Glue- and after gluing on the cardboard cover, we added this black paper to cover the book, which makes it look official. I LOVE IT! Karl said that our first book is like an experiment on how we'll make the next one, and I tortured this book a lot with holes, tears, glue, mistakes, and more, but I'm excited to just hold my first finished handmade book in my hands, no matter how its appearance is. Hopefully the next time we do the book making process, I won't need to ask Karl every second to see if I did it right. But if I didn't ask, I knew I'd do something wrong, which Cassie knows about.. (: When we meet with Karl again, I will have my book complete. Book Binding Day Two was a success!

Book Binding & Peanut Butter?

Book binding is cool! I was originally in the acting class, but I've always wanted to make a book for myself. I love how we made the books with plain paper and the edges aren't straight, they look like they were freshly cut, which is my favorite part. We had to make signatures, which are sections of the book, and I made three of them. So my book is 16 pages that were folded in half, which makes 32. Threading the needle and sewing was very challenging. You had to thread the needle, which was pretty big for a needle, with twine, and punch holes through the pile of paper. But Carl said the inside has to look better than the inside, which made me restart a couple of times. I didn't stab myself though! Ilana did.. twice! (: And Cassie, well, Cassie messed up.. a couple of times.. but it ended up alright. (:

I can't post about Book Binding without talking about peanut butter. Well, not actual peanut butter, but Carls accent. I've always wanted to hear a english person say peanut butter because it just sounds amazing, based on what people say. Do you believe that there's no video on youtube of a english person saying peanut butter? It's ridiculous! But Cassie asked Carl to say it, and i practically died. And before the day was over, I asked him to say it again. It was the best two words of the day, actually, the week.

And besides making my week with peanut butter, I made a book!

the girl without a English accent,

-ashleycoppolino

Book Presentation.

I'm not sure why presenting is my fear, but it is. I've always tried to overcome it, and I thought i did a good job at it, but I guess not. Getting up and improvising in front of a crowd should be scarier that talking about a book you've read to the class, but it wasn't like that at all.

What ruined my presentation:

1. No eye contact

- I basically looked at the sheet of paper I had the whole time.

2. Using 'like'

- 'like' is a bad habit that I have picked up on, and it's a challenge to stop saying it.

3. Being completely nervous

-I was so nervous that I made the book sound boring and that people wouldn't like it.. but it's totally opposite!

The list could probably continue.

I couldn't see my face as I was presenting, but I'm pretty sure I was beat red.

(if you are interested in this book, it's called The Mind's Eye: Writings on Photography and Photographers by Henri Cartier-Bresson)

from the nervous presenter,

ashleycoppolino

Inhale, Exhale and Repeat.

The average person takes a breath 28,800 times a day.

Give or take if that person's heart rate increases.

Lately, I've been reminding myself to breathe, because this world is too much to inhale for me.

I can't take it. Basically, my life is coming to crumbles, and I feel it.

I mean, here's the reality: Go to school, take care of my brother, make dinner, do homework, do things around the house, barely sleeping due to my brother, getting up the next morning and repeating my day. And somewhere in there, I have to breathe.

Breathing is very important because it keeps oxygen for your body to use. Personally, I feel like the oxygen has ran out and i constantly have to find more.

I'm overly tired, I'm piled with work and I've been trying to help others and not be greedy with wanting help in return.

The guidance counselor and social worker in school keep telling me that there's always going to be stress in the life of a teenager, but they keep telling my to breathe. I inhale, exhale and repeat.

In the meantime, I'll be trying to take deep breaths and continue slaving for this world I live in.

-ashleycoppolino

My Brother In A Hospital Bed Made Me Think About Life.

It's Friday March 26, 2010.

School was let out at the regular 2:40, and like usual, home around 3:15.

It's the day that I planned going to Friendly's with my friend for his birthday before he leaves to celebrate his sixteenth birthday in Aruba.

It's also the day that my brother was scheduled to have this surgery that was planned for three years.

I just got back from seeing my brother, Steven. He was in surgery at 11:00 and was out around 2:00 and was taken care of in the recovery center until 5:30.

My parents were there since Steven was taken in for surgery, but Anthony, my other brother, arrived with me when he was being moved to his own room at 5:30.

It shouldn't have been painful for me, but I was on the verge of crying. He was screaming because of the pain. He was ripping the sheet of the hospital bed and was going out of control. It was not easy to see.

My brother's a firefighter. He's used to seeing blood, limited air, rushing, etc.. But he couldn't handle the pain this time.

His surgery was set because three-four years back, he broke his knee. A little bit over a year ago, he was hit by an 18-wheeler truck. His ligaments in his knee were torn along with other problems I'm not sure about. They chose to do it now because he's nineteen and he's done growing so they're able to repair his leg.

The doctor said that his knee was worse than expected, which meant that the surgery had to be more intense than it was planned to be.

I listened to my brother cry. I watched him search around for the plug to call the nurse. I watched him struggle to contain himself the hospital bed. I couldn't watch anymore.

Even know, when I'm home, it's making me sad because it's not fair of the way I've seen him struggle.

It just hit me that I have life pretty good. A fight with a friend is nothing compared to this. Failing a class isn't as important as being close to not having a usable leg. As I listened, watched and felt my brother in pain, it hit me that I'm not appreciating what I have.

I don't go home everyday and prey for the house I have, the food I consume or the luxuries I'm able to obtain, I just don't. That doesn't mean I'm not grateful. I'm grateful for everything that is around me.

It took until now, seeing my brother on a hospital bed screaming for help, to realize that I'm fortunate for what I have and am given. I love my brother, and I don't think I've ever said it to him, but I hope he knows it. I love my whole family, I hope they all know it too.

I don't ever want to see someone in pain again. Never.

I want to stop being so negative. I should talk more about the positives in life, because I'm fortunate to even have one. I want to stop saying that I can't do things. I should be happy that I have the opportunity to do things. I want to stop having this cold shoulder and attitude to my family. Because in the end, they're the ones who are going to be by your side.

My brother will be homebound for the next ten weeks. I hope he has a good recovery and he'll never have to do this again.

Farewell for now,

ashleycopolino

solitarily & shouldn't be.

I'm alone in my house roughly from three o'clock to eight thirty.

That's five and a half hours to myself.

It probably sound amazing to an outsider, but as the one being alone, it sucks.

My parents have their real estate office in Queens and the busiest time for them is the night.

My brother stays out with his friends for as long as possible, which could be eleven o'clock on a school night.

My other brother is dedicated to the fire department. He spends his whole day there spends the night with friends. He strolls in usually in the middle of the night.

I'm very independent at home. I cook for myself, I clean around the house, I take care of my dog, I do the laundry, I complete my homework that can take hours, and the list can continue.

My mom 'trianed' me to take on the 'job of a woman' when I was about seven. It sucks. I'm responsible for most the things in my house because I basically have control. I know where things are because most likely, I put them there.

You're probabaly wondering what my mom does.. most people do wonder. Well, my mom's not in the best condition. My mom has Diabetes. She has back and knee pain. In the past ten years, she has surgery on her hip, back, neck and knee. She was recently diagnosed for Carpal Tunnel, which has to do with her nerves that are squeezed at both her wrists. There's other conditions that I don't know the name of. So I help my mom as much as possible, because I have this fear that she won't be here one day. I'm not very close with my mom, but if I ever lost her, I don't know what I'd do.

Back to solitarily... I'm home alone a lot of my days. I don't mind it because I'm used to being alone. It actually is where I'm most comfortable. But I just want someone to come home so I don't have to be alone. But when someone's hoe with me, we don't interact. I just stay in my room.

I'm pretty sure I'll be solo for a while. It doesn't bother me at all. It's not a concern of mine to be accompanied either.

I like being alone, but I don't want to like being alone. It's good to have people in your life that you want there.

-ashleycoppolino

Anyways, here's my 365 for anyone who's been keeping up.

http://heyitsashleyy.tumblr.com/

or

http://www.flickr.com/photos/heyitsashleyy/

(they're the same, just two different websites)

It's been a while, but I'm here.

I'm not sure what state of mind I've been in lately.

I've been constantly thinking about my future.

I feel like it's in full blast.

This time next year I'll be searching for colleges. This time in two years I'll be ready to head out of Herricks. This time in three years I'll be an adult.

But I also thought about my past.

This time last year I was doing the bare minimal in school. This time two years ago I was feeling all macho since I was going into high school. This time three years ago I was into cursing and rap.

I've changed over time and I most definitely will continue to change.

It might sound strange, but I've thought a lot about my ending of life. I don't want to finish my life by thinking that 'I should have done this' or 'I should not have done that', I want to be able to look back and be satisfied with the choices I have made.

But I'm not satisfied with the choices I have made in the past, and I want that to change in the next couple of years.

Maybe it's all a self-confidence thing that I'm lacking.

Maybe it's my fear of not doing it right, so I don't do it at all.

I keep saying that I'm going to do things differently and that they're going to be better, but it never happens.

I've been confused lately. I don't know where I stand, if I even stand at all.

From always,

ashleycoppolino

here's my daily practice: www.heyitsashleyy.tumblr.com

My Daily Practice: 365

I don't usually finish what I start, but I want this to be different.

So, I've been watching 'The Buried Life' on MTV and it had me thinking about life. It had me thinking about how time flies by and you don't even know it. I've been trying to put together a list of things i want to do before I die, and this 365 is on it. I can't mess up and not take a photo one day, because that means that I've screwed up the 365. I want to complete this. I want to be able to cross this off my list.

I'm not sure what is intriguing about this. It's basically taking a photo of yourself a day. Actually, that's all it is. But it seems like so much more to me. It's like a summary of my day. I show my emotion in a photograph, and by the look on my face, you can tell a little about me.

And going back to my fascination on time, this project is perfect for me. I associate my day with my photograph, and it shows me what I was doing at the time. And i'll be able to look at these years in the future and see what I liked. I don't know, it's just something I like to do.

This 365 isn't a hassle for me, and I'd love to keep it up for longer than just 365 days.

today was day 028! check out my 365 from day 001 to now.

www.flickr.com/heyitsashleyy

-ashleycoppolino

Artist Statement

Artist Statement:

Photography has mainly been my art. I was never taught how to use a camera and capture focal points, but as I figured it all out, I have grown a passion for it. I do photography because I take that one moment of time and hold it. With a camera, you have the ability to capture a moment of your life from any angle. Not all photographs look right, but if you move the camera and look at the world, it’s not all right either.

When I take photos, I try to grasp every ounce of color. The contrast between light and dark or dull and bright, to me, makes the picture pop and look stronger. In photography, you’re only given so much space to fit your shot in. And in that space, every speck is seen. If I’m taking a picture of a landscape, for example, and there’s garbage on the floor in my shot, I will not keep the photo. Yes, it’s how I see the world, but no, it’s not how I want to remember my picture. The little details are important, but not my main importance. But like any other photographer, I just want my picture to come out good.

Color is my main focus in a photo, like I have slightly mentioned before. Even in black and white, when you have your pure blacks and your whitest whites, it makes the photo look great. With black and white you could do color splash, which means the whole photo is black and white except the one thing you decided to keep in color.

Even though photography is where my heart is in art, I’m open to any art. Any way to creatively express what I want to, what I need to, I’m open for it. I can’t really describe art, but it’s the things you can’t describe that are most important in your life.

ashleycoppolino

Core Values and Issues: are the same?

Issues:

color - in my photography, I look for brights, dulls, darks, lights and everything in between in all shades of color. In black & white photography, color splash has to be one of my favorites.

emotions - emotions occur in my photos, and writing. lowering the exposure or saturation of a photograph gives it a different emotion that the original. When I write, it's always toying with emotions.

opposites (i.e. dark vs. light)

time - a lot of my photography shows things that change over time. When something is in motion, and I take many, many pictures as it's changing but only use a couple and lay them out next to each other, even though the photographs aren't in between, you see hat changes over time. In my writing, I write a lot about the past going to the future and how things change, and it takes time, etc.

I think I confused myself with the core values and issues.. Is it possible for my core values and issues to be the same? Because isn't core values is what's important, and issues is what appears in your work, so wouldn't it be alright if they were the same?

It's nothing fantastic yet, but here's the beginning of my 365: http://www.flickr.com/photos/heyitsashleyy/

Help!

-ashleycoppolino

What Have I Done In The Semester?

I feel like my first day of tenth grade was last week. When actually, it was about five months ago. Time flies. Half way into the school year, Luke hit us with a question that really made me think, 'What have you done in the semester?'. Well, i couldn't really come up with anything extraordinary. I wanted to impress myself and say that I've accomplished something great, but i couldn't even do that. And this is where I plan to turn that all around.
I'm done with slacking, and believing my stupid choices now won't effect me in the future. I know I'm young and all, but the choices I made six years ago effect me now, and I can't imagine what it will be like this time around. So, i decided to set rules for myself. Rule #1: Don't break the rules.
I know I'll end up breaking them eventually, but I want to think positive, you know, have a little faith in myself.
I also thought of Luke's question not as what I've done, but as what can I do. I want to follow my New Years Resolution and start me make change in my life. I want to be able to look back and say, 'Wow, I did that.'
I know it's corny and all, but I don't really care. It's what I want and I'm going to really try for it.

once again,
ashleycoppolino

365. That's Right.. A Whole Year.

So, Nina has inspired me to get a move on my 365.
I put a lot of thorught into the 365, even though it probably doesn't seem like it.
I've recently blogged about how time is mind-blowing to me. And i thought about it all, and time is in photography. It's that one captured moment of time. And past time and future time is amazing to me. I love holding on to a picture from ten years ago and looking at it now and thinking how it's all changed. I'll give an example! In 2001, my friend and I sat on my front stairs drinking yoo-hoo. I look at it know and think, why did i dye my hair? was i really that short? did i always wear pink? and I look at myself now and wonder how it's changed through the past couple of years.
What I love about doing the 365, is that I can see how I've changed. Going back to time, if i take one picture of myself over a year, it will show what happens in a period of time.
And so, that's my story of 365.

Follow me! It's not updated, but every now and then for the next three hundred and sixty0five days you can drop in and see the changes I've made.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/heyitsashleyy/

Sincerely Yours,
ashleycoppolino

Core Values and Issues in Time

issues:

-communication

-hearing, but not seeing

-voice

-explination

core values:

-color

-emotions

~expression of one's self

-accomplishment

~feeling of being able to move on

~feeling of completion

While doing this activity in class, I had this whole thing going on in my head. I say 'thing' because it was so above and beyond where I began, that I didn't know what to say, which left me speechless.

As for core values, I figured my major core value would be color. Color is so important to me, I’m not exactly sure why color was the first thing to pop in my mind. But then I looked back, and realized that I was amazed by the color theory, and still am! Color has this powerful way to win me over, just the contrast between light and dark, and everything in between in every shade of color, it all just amazes me. Someone pointed out that color might be the reason I like photography so much. Grasping the colors in a photograph could be important to me, and I came to think of it, that color is important to me in photographs. Photography also doesn't have what my issues are. There is no communication in a still life photo. The explination does not have to be communicated, because it is visible. I recently redesigned my room to have every item black and white, with yellow walls. When I thought about color and how it’s important to me, I thought of my room. If everything is black and white, opposite in colors, imagine how the yellow looks. It stands out, and the yellow stands for itself and balances between the black and the white. This whole idea was just mind blowing. It’s like things happen for a reason. I didn’t choose to design my room this way because my favorite color was yellow; I designed it this way because of the theory behind color that completely fascinates me.

One table I was sitting at started a conversation about time. Time has everything in its hands. In order to do something, you need time. Doing a crime, such as killing a person is unlawful because you’re taking someone’s time away. It takes time to grow up and discover your issues. It takes time for each day to pass, and the sun to rise the next morning. You have lived in the past, currently live in the present, and you are going to live in the future, and all three time periods are based upon time! If there was no time, there would be no past, present, or future. What are you without your past or even your present? There would be nothing to learn, nothing to look forward to, nothing to do while trying to pass the time to go into the future! This whole idea of time controlling everything was mind-blowing and I still can’t believe what we spoke about today, it’s just so overwhelming and mind-blowing that I can’t get over it all! Time really had me thinking about what I’m living for. I can’t live for the past, because that time is over, but I could live in the present and live for the future. But if you think about it, how do you measure time? In seconds, minutes, days, years? How do you measure the present time? Time goes by so quickly, that there isn’t even a moment to say you’re living in the present because you are constantly living in the future, and you wouldn’t even know it without time. You can’t even say something like, ‘see you later’ because without time, there would be no ‘earlier’ to compare it to. You wouldn’t be able to say something is quick or takes forever, because you can’t compare the two without having a sense of time. Time also runs along the line of my liking of photography. Photos are a moment frozen in time. There really is not sense of time if it's frozen, but you know it's there because you can't eliminate time. It will always be there, working with you or against you. Do you get it?

I hope that all made sense. If you didn't notice, one of my issues is explination. It's so hard to do, and not explaining makes art so much more intriguing.

I don’t even know how to conclude this blog, it was all just too amazing to not blog about.

sincerely yours,

ashley coppolino

Out With The Old, In With The New

STAC Live!

It was a tough crowd for most of it, not going to lie.

Off-track for one moment...

Well, my New Years resolution was bold optimism. It was to try new things and for me to not be afraid anymore.

I got up optionally to go on stage for the first time in my life. My rosacea probably kicked in, but no one could tell because of those lights.

I kind of liked it. It was weird. I never, never, never would put myself on stage in front of a crowd. But because of my resolution, I did.

My first improv was better than my second, I'm not sure why, but it just happened that way. Actually, that's a lie. I think I do know why it happened like that. I saw one specific person in the crowd during my second improv. Any who, it was all still new to me, so I'm sure if I did it again, I'd get the hang of it, and maybe my rosacea won't be visible during public speaking anymore.

But it was weird, because once I got up there, and the fidgeting stopped, I wasn't nervous and the words flowed out of my mouth very easily. I got compliments from an ex-STACie that I never spoke to in my life before. I got this feeling that I could be invincible. I saw my friends after school, and they were like, "I didn't know you were funny!" and "Who knew Ashley could act!" 'Compliments' like that. They were secretly in the crowd during my first improv, and they even recorded it, that's how funny they thought I was. But I got this weird vibe that they meant a different kind of funny. Like, not laughing about what I was saying, but just laughing at me. So I thought about it all. They've known me for about five years, and didn't know what I was capable of? Really? So, I took what they were saying, and it kind of pissed me off.

I'm going to backtrack a little bit here.

The whole friends situation, ugh. When I forgave them, it still bothered me everyday, and I acted as if it didn't. But I swore to myself to never trust them as I did, because for all of them to turn on me that quick means that they're not true friends.

Guess what happened yesterday. A repeat of the fight, but it's different this time. I won't forgive them. I don't care about them this time.

I know I'm foolish for saying I don't care, because I obviously do, but I don't want to care. That's the thing.

It was through text messages. First of all, text messaging has ruined relationships between people, it has to be a fact. Texts are constantly misunderstood. You can't express your feeling through a text, no matter how many haha's or aw's you include. It just won't happen.

She mentioned, "Actually, it was like you were never my friend after out last fight." I told her, "My acting skills got better since I joined STAC." She was speechless for fifteen minutes. Take note, she isn't a fan of STAC.

But the thing about this specific friend, her texts come out very sarcastic. So when the fighting became intense, I used her sarcastic one-word responses she texts me all the time, and her response was, "you're unbelievable." and my last response to her was, "You just proved my point on how difficult it is to deal with someone like you." And that's it of our friendship. For good.

Quote of the day: "Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live." -Dorothy Thompson

The girl who won't change for anyone but herself,

ashleycoppolino