ANGELA B. PAN

On Monday night before I went to bed, I checked the weather like I always do. It called for fog in the morning so I set my alarm to wake up for sunrise. I didn’t have any real plans of where I was going to go, I just knew I wanted to go somewhere near water. So I figured the reflecting pool would be cool.

I walked around and nothing really was catching my attention so I made my way over to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I figured with all the Memorial day festivities that it may be cool. I was wrong. It was freakin’ amazinggggg. I don’t know why I’ve never done it before.

There were so many flowers, notes, and just little tokens of appreciation to our veterans. I even saw cans of beer. It was one of the most touching displays of affection that I have seen in a very long time. I took the time out to read some of the notes that were left there and I just can’t even imagine what friends and family had to go through during this period of time. I can’t even imagine what the men and women who severed our country had to go through during this time either. I am so grateful for all of their sacrifices. If not for you, I would not have the beautiful life I have today. I have so much respect and gratitude to you, veterans. Veterans of then and veterans now. Thank you.

At the end of the wall were just a whole bunch of American flags. I loved the repetition and how they were reflecting in the memorial. I think the fog really helped to capture the mood too.

My camera settings for this image is F5.0 at 1/200th of a second and ISO 800 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

Day three of gratitude and I could not be more grateful for the DC photo community. When I first started out in photography, I thought I was the only one. I honestly thought that I was the only one from this area who enjoyed walking around and taking pictures. Obviously I had seen other photographs of DC before, but I had no idea who these people were or how to connect with them. So I spent the first 3 or 4 years all by myself.

After a while, I think I just got bored…

so I signed up for Instagram. My eyes seriously exploded. This is where all the people were hiding! I had no idea there was such a large community of local photographers and all their images were amazing! I decided to go on my first photo walk with IGDC and soon after that, Walk with Locals. It’s hard to describe the energy around these walks but I have nothing but positive things to say about them. And it’s so great because even if you don’t know anybody on the walk, you know you at least have one thing in common, a passion for photography. It’s so fun to spend a few hours with like-minded people creating. Ugh, I love it.

Now I love going out to take pictures with people, I’m no longer bored, and somehow I see things in a different perspective each time I go out. It has opened my world to new people and new places and I’m so grateful to the DC photo community for helping me do this.

This image is of my friend, Laurie one morning at the National Gallery of Art. She’s just one of the awesome people I’ve met through Instagram and thrilled every time we get to hang out.

The settings for this image is F/8 at 1/800th of a second and ISO 160 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

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.

Recently I read an article entitled, “I hate the Cherry Blossoms. There I said it” by Josh Lorenzo. He’s a part of the Capital Weather Gang crew at the Washington Post so I thought it’d be an interesting read. The Capital Weather Gang has always been my go-to for big weather storms or anything like that. So I wanted to hear what he had to say. If you missed it, you can read the it here.

I understand what Josh means. I think pre-photography, I would of felt similar on some points. There are cherry blossoms in my neighborhood, why do I have to go all the way to DC to see them? They’re just a lot of hype, lots of tourists, blah blah blah.

Here’s how I see things currently: Becoming a photographer has made me look and see the world differently but I’ve always loved the cherry blossoms. They make me smile. They make me happy. They make the city more enjoyable and fun to walk around and explore. They bring lightness and color to a city that has been wrecked with controversy and “fake news”. I truly believe that people all around the world should experience this kind of DC as opposed to the one you see on the TV.

And considering they usually last only a week, why can’t we have the one week out of the 52 in a year to appreciate, rejuvenate, and bring more life back in to the city? Then it goes back to the ordinary black and white marble structures that were used to. Boorrringggg.

The blossoms are an extraordinary event that should be celebrated. Please don’t make this into ANOTHER thing to complain about. If cherry blossoms won’t make you happy, what will?  And if you think the best thing Japan has to offer is was a better Ramen recipe or a blue print on how to build a better Toyota Camry, then you need to learn how to appreciate the beauty in the little things that surrounds you. The cherry blossoms were a present that should be appreciated, cared for and admired.

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all our veterans who served our country. Thank you for our freedom. Thank you for making it safe for me to enjoy the sunrise everyday.

To show my appreciation, I’d like to offer 30% off of all my prints for the whole week. All my prints, including the Vietnam Veterans Memorial images. Please use coupon code “ThankYouVets” at checkout. To see all the prints, click here.

If you saw me this morning than you would of seen a girl with a tripod sprinting across Constitution Ave because the sunrise was AMAZING!!! I got to the Lincoln Memorial and had never seen it so pink before. The light from the sky, reflecting off the reflecting pool must of been so bright and strong that it made everything pink. Even these big workout guys stopped to watch. It was incredible.

Speaking of incredible the response to the Vietnam Memorial image from yesterday was absolutely mind blowing. Thank you all so much for the kind messages and comments. I’m going to spend some time today to try to get back to everyone. Thank you so much.