Photography's Longest Exposure!

Six months. That’s right. This dream-like picture shows each phase of the sun over Bristol’s Clifton Suspension Bridge taken during half a year. The image was captured on a pin-hole camera made from an empty soda can with a 0.25mm aperture and a single sheet of photographic paper. Photographer Justin Quinnell strapped the camera to a telephone pole overlooking the Gorge, where it was left between December 19, 2007 and June 21, 2008—the Winter and Summer solstices. (That’s a 15,552,000 second exposure.) ‘Solargraph’ shows six months of the sun’s luminescent trails and its subtle change of course caused by the earth’s movement in orbit. The lowest arc being the first day of exposure on the Winter solstice, while the top curves were captured mid-Summer. (Dotted lines of light are the result of overcast days when the sun struggled to penetrate the cloud.) Quinnell, a renowned pin-hole camera artist, says the photograph took on a personal resonance after his father passed away on April 13—halfway through the exposure. He says the picture allows him to pinpoint the exact location of the sun in the sky at the moment of his father passing.

-ashleycoppolino

Workshop with Rob (and Alan)

I know what you're thinking. Alan? Yes, Alan. Alan, a.k.a., Mr. Semerdjian, needed to be photographed, so that's exactly what we did. It was an experience for us, as well as him. It was weird because we all knew who he is - a teacher in our school. It was definitely awkward, he said so himself.
Basically, we carried a huge white board (used to bounce the light), two light fixtures, a few cameras, reflectors, and more diffusers to the English Office. Yes, we set up a photoshoot jn the English Office.
We got some good shots, which is great. Rob taught us what to do in a crammed situation and how to put things together in a speedy moment.
Glad to do the job.

-ashleycoppolino

Matrix: my experience

I guess I have off the vibe that I didn't like the movie. It's not that.
There were so many concepts that were weaved into the film. The part I isn't like is rather personal. There were plenty of religious factors that were mentioned, none of which I got without research. I needed Google to help explain my religion. I feel pretty pathetic. I don't go to Church. There isn't a reason why I don't go, and is there really a reason I should?
I don't believe in fate and imaginary powers. Church is where myths are spoken, which I don't believe. I won't like and say I never wished for God's helper tried to speak to him, because I have. Bit I was raised that way.
When I get older I fear that I will lose my religion, which will push me deeper into the Matrix. I mean, I'm very far in now, which I'm not proud of, but it's just the truth.
The movie is in the Matrix itself. The part where they show the real world is created by people who are deep in the Matrix. There's no way out, that's the scary part.
I don't like realizing all of this. I was so into the Matrix that I didn't even notice it until it was brought to my attention.
That's just me ventilating on my personal Matrix experience.

-ashleycoppolino

Photos on February 15!

This workshop was interesting. We were newspaper photographers! We had tasks that needed to be completed I a certain time frame. The task included the story headline that we were shooting photos for, which is very helpful.
This assignment gave me just a quick glimpse of working as a newspaper photographer. It's not like I have a car and need to drive from location to location.. But I did have to go around the high school, which was probably more awkward than photographing people you don't know and people who expect to be photographed.
I never considered newspaper photography a task, I know photos were taken to be in the paper, but it never occurred to me how they were put together.
It's not a job for the money, but for experience.

-ashleycoppolino

photographing again!

When taking a photo, of a person, especially yourself, you check to see if you look good. Without thinking about it, the light effects how your results can be. The light can give your face a sharpness to it, or have it lit poorly, which looses the interest in the face.

Instead of manually controlling the light source, we used the light fixtures in the ceiling and the sun as our sources and used them to our benefit. We had somewhat control, but not all of it.

It was really interesting to see in the pictures that if you move one inch, your whole photograph could change.

-ashleycoppolino

Photography Workshop #2

We mainly focused on aperture, sensitivity and shutter speed.

For film cameras, these three setting are extremely important for the photograph. For digital, as many of you know, there is an automatic mode, which takes care of snapping a basic photo.

The first workshop was focused on artificial light, creating our own studio of light. The second workshop gave us the chance to go outside, which to me, seemed harder than artificial light. I've always taken my photos outside, but when you're standing there trying to adjust every setting as your model is squiggling and trying to fight their eyes from blinking, suddenly does it seem difficult. But it's worth it when you get that photo where the hair is outlined and they eyes are shined as if it was the sun itself.

Workshop #3, here I come!

-ashleycoppolino

Lighting The Room With Rob Goldman!

I won't use the word hate, but its not fair when people look at me saying that I'm "the photographer" or "the photography girl", both of which I have been named numerous times. I feel like there's a standard I need to pass, and I'm trying to pass it, but something is holding me back.

I knew a lot about what Rob was talking about. And I don't mean to sound conceded when I say that, it's just that the technical stuff is the base of photography, which I believe that I am close to overcoming.

I will not say that I am a pro photographer, not close at all, actually, but this stuff that Rob taught today is where I want to advance from. I want to master this to move on to more and more advanced photography.

Anywho, we went over things like harsh and soft light, which is major when shooting your subject. We talked about casting a shadow by placing the light source off to the side of the subject, at a 90 degree angle, the vertex being the subject, so on and so forth.

We used Elisa's camera, which was cool since I have just about the same one, so I knew how to maneuver it.

I was the "model" for the shadowing we did, which I didn't love, but I didn't entirely mind either. I don't really like being in the photo as much as I like taking them.

My favorite part about today is how we only started off with a camera. We had to find a janitor for the light bulb, we used a stool that was lying on the stage and we found a white curtain (used to diffuse the light in the photographs). We scavenged for our supplies. The best part about doing that, is that in the photograph, you don't notice it. You can't tell that we used a piece of paper as a reflector for the light.

It's like we got secrets of a photographer.. I don't know, I find it so fascinating.

-ashleycoppolino