ANGELA B. PAN

At any given time, you could have found me with at least 2 different cameras while I was in Turks and Caicos. Since I was not able to swim or do much physical activity, I figured I’d spend my time laying around or capturing images. (Which is an amazing plan if you ask me). So I ended up bringing 4 different cameras on the trip, 5 if you count my iPhone.

1. Sony A7II
2. DJI Mavic Pro Drone
3. GoPro Hero 5 Black
4. Canon T70 film camera

It may have been a little excessive to have at least 2 cameras on me, but that was the only way I was able to capture everything I wanted without having to go back to our room to get a different camera. But during the day, I loved having the GoPro and Drone. Both of these cameras allow such different perspectives that I’m not used to when just shooting with my Sony.

But to be honest, I’m usually very cautious when flying my drone in front of a lot of people. I know a lot of people don’t like it. It can be noisy and a disturbance so I try my best to only fly when there aren’t as many people around. One morning, Andrew and I woke up early just to fly the drone. It was great because at 6 am we were the only ones on the beach. I was free to fly wherever I wanted. But I do like images with people in it…

So the next morning, I chose to fly around 8 am. There were a few people on the beach but not as many as there would have been if it were later on in the day and I didn’t fly as long as I did the previous day. But it was great because the sun was completely out and the colors in the water were looking amazing. I especially like looking at all the shadows the sun created.

My camera settings for this image is F2.2 at 1/2200th sec and ISO 100 with my DJI Mavic Pro.

Just an early morning view of some surfers at La Jolla Shores in San Diego, California. Is it me or if you glance at it real quick, it just looks like some little bits of rice that has fallen down? LOL. This was my only successful attempt of actually getting footage of my cousin, Vincent surfing. All other times he was already in the water and I tried using my drone to find him but with everyone in all black wet suits with white surfboards, it can be really difficult to find the person you’re looking for. It finally worked out that I had my drone ready to go when he was getting into the water and followed him while flying. I told Andrew to also keep a lookout just in case. But I’m so glad I was actually able to find him this time.

While trying to capture him, I had it on video for a majority of the time. But this image was taken in the part of the ocean where it is a bit calmer. You can sit on the board and relax a little bit before swimming out deeper to get the big waves. So while they were taking a break, I took a few pics. I loved the really calm water with the gradient of blues. I purposely waited for a little wave to come up so that it looked more like ocean water and I could highlight Vincent a little more. He’s the guy on the green surfboard kicking up towards the top of the image. The whole time I was editing this image I was channeling my inner Mark Rothko and imagining what he would do. Either way, I love the way it turned out. It just oozes with calmness.

My camera settings for this image is F2.2 at 1/100th sec and ISO 196 with my DJI Mavic Pro.

Speaking of Aruba….

For some reason when we flew back from Aruba we had a layover in Newark airport. I’m not sure how that happened but either way, I called window seat! This was my first time ever flying into New York or New Jersey. Usually when we go on the weekends, we’ll just drive. It’s so much easier and were not on anyone’s schedule. Were free as birds to come and go as we please.

As we were landing, I looked out the window and I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped. I was NOT expecting this view. It literally took my breath away. I love seeing familiar scenes from different points of views. So I grabbed my camera as fast as I could and started shooting.

It was in the middle of the day so the lighting wasn’t the best. The buildings looked kind of faded from the sunlight so I as I begun editing this image I thought that converting it into a black and white image would be better. What do you think? It totally reminds me of Jason Peterson’s work, who I love. He has definietly been my favorite black and white photographer and artist for the past few years now. So I was super happy with this when it all came together.

My camera settings for this image is F9 at 1/640th of a second at ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens handheld.

In other news, Andrew and I just got back from Norway last night. I’m spending the day working on my images and I can’t wait to share them with you! Norway has got to be one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. I already want to go back to see more of the country, especially the Lofoten Islands and other places up north.

First of all, Happy Valentine’s Day LOVES!!!! I personally don’t think Valentine’s day is only for your significant other. I think Valentine’s day should be shared with everyone you love – family, friends, internet friends.  So I wish you a day full of smiles and hugs and pizza 🙂 Who doesn’t love pizza, am I right?

But I thought it was appropriate to post about 2 of my favorite places. The airport and the National Mall.  National Mall is a given but the airport is one of my favorite places to hang out. It’s the best place to people watch, theres always a huge variety of food to select from and each airport is so different from one another. Sometimes I just like going early to sit and watch. Is that weird? I dunno, I think my love of airports started from a young age visiting the Las Vegas airport. Now that’s a cool airport!! I always imagine walking through the airport with my mom and she’d always imitate her favorite noise, “cling cling cling cling” goes the sound of the slot machines. LOL.

Anyways… if you read my last blog post about flying out of Reagan National Airport, then I’m sorry, I think I gave you the wrong information. LOL. Turns out you can see the National Mall even when you’re flying south. I captured this image on our way down to Orlando. Again, I was sitting on the right hand side of the airplane and it worked! I really don’t know how the runways work for which direction you’re flying but it’s a pretty safe bet that if you’re going to see the National Mall, you’ll see it on the right hand side when flying out of DCA. Don’t get me wrong though, there are certain times when you won’t see it. I haven’t quite figured that part out yet. I’ll keep you updated!

My settings for this image is F8 at 1/1000th of a second at ISO 800 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm zoom lens.

I be dronin’. LOL.

We had gorgeous weather here in Virginia over the Thanksgiving weekend. What could be better than spending that time outdoors? So Andrew and I decided to grab the drone and practice flying. Checking out the maps, we decided to go to Reston. I was looking forward to capturing some lake images but once I got to our location, it was the trees that really caught my attention. I can not believe that it is almost December and the trees are still this colorful and hanging on. It seems kinda late doesn’t it?

Either way, I loved the way my very first drone image turned out. It’s actually a small piece of a larger image but that word “slow” really caught my attention. With some fancy cropping and rotating, I came up with this.

Practicing my flying skills is always a good thing, but I also need to practice my composition skills with the new point of view. It’s a totally new way to see the world and I need to know when to fly up higher or get down low and when there’s too much in the frame. I think that was my problem when I viewed the images on my computer. There’s just too much going on and you have no idea what to focus on.

Regardless, I’m loving my mavic. Every opportunity I get, I want to fly. I was even showing Andrew how to fly too. He didn’t take any pics but I bet if he did, it would some how turn out blurry. He’s just that good. LOL

My camera settings for this image is F2.2 at 1/100th of a second and ISO 100 with my DJI Mavic Pro. Now that I think of it, I need to update my gear page with my new flying camera 🙂

Day 2 of things I’m grateful for: I bought myself a DJI Mavic Pro! I’m so hyped.

Long story short, I flew my cousin’s drone 2 years ago and crashed it within 2 minutes. Getting it down from the tree and having it repaired was the biggest nightmare of my life. It was so horrible that it frightened me from ever wanting to ever fly again. Plus there aren’t a lot of places to fly around the DC area, so why bother?

But then instagram. Man, instagram and all your cool images of drone photography!!! You got me interested again! So I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a Mavic. Luckily, my friend Andy, had an extra one so I was able to get a pretty cool deal on it.

So I watched a couple of youtube videos, read parts of the instruction manual and felt a little more confident to fly. Over the weekend I met up with my friend, Paul in Manassas and was able to fly without crashing. That’s a huge win in my book. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Now I’m hooked. I had soooo much fun flying and just seeing the world from a totally different perspective. It was so awesome. To quote Andy, “yeah makes you hate walking to take pics lol”. Sooo true. HAHA!

For my day 2 of gratitude, I am extremely grateful to have gotten over my fear of flying drones and sooo excited to capture new images. This image is my very first selfie flying the drone. I texted it to my mom and she was like “what is that?” I know I look really small. But we’re working on baby steps here!

The camera settings for this image is F2.2 at 1/180th of a second at ISO 100 with my DJI Mavic Pro.