ANGELA B. PAN

It’s that time of year again! Sunflower season!

If you haven’t seen them already, I’ve made two vlogs in the years past from McKee Beshers in Poolesville, Maryland. They’re linked here and here.

But this season is a little different. This year I have my drone! Muahaha. I ended up taking more drone pics and video than I did with my Sony camera. I think I was just excited about having a really beautiful place to go and legally being able to fly. It’s funny though because I wasn’t the only one who had this idea. There was at least 3 other drones flying around. One guy commented that he has never seen so many drones in one place before. It’s all good though. They’re just so much fun to fly.

And they make for the best selfie sticks! Here’s another pic of me with my friends Sue and Birch. The sunflower squad. No, we didn’t actually call ourselves that but it would have been funny if we did. LOL.

If you don’t have a drone, make sure to bring a step stool. The flowers are over 7′ tall this year. Way better than it was last year. It’s pretty overwhelming to try to capture it all so I highly recommend trying to get on a higher level. And as always, don’t forget your bug spray! I accidentally brought bug bite relief as opposed to repellant and my ankles got torn apart. I hope those mosquitos enjoyed the extra cooling sensation. *waves fist in the air*

My camera settings for my alone selfie is F2.2 at 1/13th of a second ISO 978 (?) with my DJI Mavic Pro.

That question mark is in reference to the weird ISO number. I’ve never seen anything wasn’t a multiple of 100 on any other camera or film. Weird…

Its been a couple of years since it’s been built and guess what. I still haven’t been on the Capital Wheel. I should really put that on my to-do list. I bet the views from there are real nice. For some reason every time I’ve been to the National Harbor, it’s closed. But then again, I’m usually there just to eat and not really anything else. Have you had Grace’s Mandarin? OMG so good. LOL.

I captured this image about a year ago just by luck. I happened to be driving home from my friend’s house in Maryland and noticed how insanely foggy it was getting outside. But when I crossed over the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, I noticed how the fog was effecting the colors of the ferris wheel. It was like something I had never seen before. It was sooo foggy that the fog was actually carrying the colors from the lights. I had to make a quick U-turn to check things out. Luckily I had my camera and tripod with me. Oh man, I would have been so upset if I didn’t. But as I got closer to the ferris wheel, the cooler it looked. The fog blocked everything else out and the only thing visible was the wheel. If I shot this without the fog, you would have probably seen so much many more lights from the National Harbor or even the roads leading up to it. I’m so grateful that I had my gear with me.

My camera settings for this image is F4.0 at 0.8 seconds at ISO 125 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm camera.

Hope you all have a great weekend! Can you believe it’s already December 15th? Luckily I finished all my holiday shopping earlier this week. Thank you Amazon! I’ve never been so prepared 🙂

Flowers are my favorite. They make me so happy. Especially when you see a whole bunch of them growing like these sunflowers in southern Maryland. This image was taken last year and I’ve heard the ones this year are just couple weeks away from blooming. Can’t wait!

So if you’re in the DC metro area and interested in shooting these sunflowers, google or click this link for McKee Beshers. It’s hard to give an exact location to where they are but on their website, they’ll have a map of where the sunflowers are blooming. That will be your best bet.

If I can offer you any tips on shooting these sunflowers, it would be BRING BUG SPRAY. Not even joking. I’ve never had so many bug bites in my life. Two years ago, I went with my friend Ryan to go shooting and at one point we decided there were way too many mosquitos and we started running back to the car. Tell me how I swallowed 2 of them!!! It’s absolutely nuts how they just swarm you. I’ll never wear shorts out there. I rather be hot in long pants and a shirt before I even think about going there with too much exposed skin. If you haven’t noticed yet, these bugs are for real. Definietly take precautions. The mosquitos and I are not friends.

Other than that, sunset is probably your best time to go too. I’ve tried sunrise a few times but where these fields are located, sunset is definietly the time with the best light. I’ve seen people bring ladders and that’s probably a cool point of view as well. If you have any other questions about these sunflowers, don’t hesitate to ask 🙂 I know a lot of people were asking me about them on instagram so I think that answers the majority of them.

My settings for this image was F7.1 at 1/13th of a second ISO 125 shot at sunset while a storm was approaching.

About two weeks ago, I visited Glenstone Museum again. My second time visiting but just as great as the first. This time however, I was really hoping to see Split Rocker in full bloom, which he was and it made me so happy. I circled him about 3 times while smiling before we had to go on with the tour. It’s crazy to see such a huge statute full of flowers. Props to Jeff Koons.

But I think my unexpected favorite was the Richard Serra piece called Sylvester. From the outside, it doesn’t look like much, but as you circle to the inside, you get all these amazing variations of sunlight and shadows. Also the way that the piece divides the sky is very cool too. I bet it’d look amazing during a really puffy, cloudy day or even a nice sunrise/sunset.

And it’s actually much bigger than you think it is but doesn’t take much effort to walk through, if that makes sense? Once you’re totally inside, the acoustics in the center are totally amazing. You can totally feel your voice echo inside you. Kinda surreal. But I can also see how it’d be distracting if you were trying to hold a real conversation.

So walking out, I noticed this form. Again it was the shadows and the lines that really drew me into this scene. The sun flare from the lens was an added bonus that adds a little bit more interest into this piece. I don’t know, abstracts like this isn’t something I usually photograph or post. What do you think of it?

If you ever want to have a unique museum experience, make sure to book a tour at Glenstone. It’s privately owned so you have to have a reservation but it’s completely free. Totally worth it, especially if it’s a really nice day and you can enjoy the outdoor sculptures.

My settings for this image was F/9 at 1/160th of a second at ISO 200.

This past Wednesday I had the amazing opportunity to visit the Roni Horn exhibit at the Glenstone Museum in Potomac, Maryland. First of all, this space is amazing. I had no idea that such a modern museum was located in MD. As soon as I drove on to the property, I was super impressed.

The best part of the whole experience was touring the Horn exhibit. First of all, Emily Wei Rales, Director and Chief Curator of Glenstone led the tour which was so thought-provoking and interesting. I felt like I could listen to her talk all day. She explained how Horn’s art explores the idea of a person’s identity, differences between pairs and the use of words, colors and phrases to create art while being influenced by places such as Iceland. This immediately resonated with me since I just got back from Iceland and I’m already ready to go back.

The biggest take away I got from the exhibit is to be mindful and stay true to who you are as a person (whoever that may be). I really got inspired to learn more about myself, how I’m perceived by other people and to learn more about how other artists view the world. I just bought this book. Let me know if you read it. I’m really interested in reading more about current artists and how they think.  So if  you’re in the area and you’ve never been to Glenstone, it comes with my highest recommendation. I’ve already booked another ticket to go back in a couple of weeks.

You know what’s funny? If you asked me a couple of years ago, I would of never called myself an artist. I was never comfortable with the label even though I loved taking pictures. I just saw myself as someone who loved photography but as I grow and learn more, I’m beginning to feel comfortable with the identity and it feels good <3

Here’s a photo my friend, Jenn (Instagram: jennrightmeow) took of me while in Glenstone museum. I was learning so much that I felt like I had to sit down and get it all down on my phone before I forgot.

For some reason, this image reminds me of the “praise hands” emoji. Is it just me?

🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌