ANGELA B. PAN

Taken at the same time as this image, these two scenes were taking place just a few steps away from each. Luckily, I was across the street and I didn’t have to take those steps. All I had to do was shift my body a little bit and I saw these lovely ladies getting their hair done. Obviously, hair appointments don’t stop when it’s raining out.

I think my favorite part about this image are all the tones that are going on. It’s such an everyday scene (at least for women) but everything seems to be matching. For example the blues. The overall image is very blue, but blues can be found in the woman’s shirt that’s closest to the left, then in the hair towel and apron on the women in the center and then the apron on the woman on the very right. Those blue tones match the neon lights that you see reflecting in the mirror along with some orange tones. The orange tones go along the woman who has her hair in a bun, then the orange apron, and a little bit of orange in the store sign to the very left. Oh and I forgot to mention there’s even a little orange in the sign hanging on the wall on the very right. To be honest, I didn’t notice how everything matched so well when I captured the image, but now that I see the scene, I just like it so much more.

My camera settings for this image are F4 at 1/200th sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm.

Home from a quick trip to New York and I feel like it was just the thing I needed to get in to the holiday spirit.

Andrew and I tend to go to always go to New York around this time of year. The first reason being his birthday and he can choose anything in the whole city he wants to eat but the second is that it’s just a fun place to be in the month of December. I love seeing all the holiday decoration and there is just something about being in the Big Apple that makes me so happy. I was trying to describe it to my friend the other day when she told me she doesn’t like going to New York. I think the fact that there’s always something to do or something to see there, but there’s also so many people walking around the city that you’re just so anonymous and no one really cares. I also love how you can walk through a door and have an impression of let’s say a restaurant, but it’s totally different once you’re inside. Like it could look like this run down, little hole in the wall from the outside but inside the vibe can be completely fun and entertaining with the best food you’ve ever eaten in your entire life. You just never really know what you’re going to get when you’re in the city and I love that. It’s so different every time we go.

This image was taken while we were sitting on the subway waiting for it to depart from the stop. I just happened to have my camera on my lap when I noticed that girl perfectly in frame with the window. I loved how candid it was but I think my favorite part of the image is the actual reflection from the bars on the inside. I just think those extra lines really bring your attention to the girl and makes you wonder what she’s looking at on her phone.

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/50th sec at ISO 800 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom.

I love New York. My friends ask me why I go so much, but there’s something about the city where you can be so anonymous and free to be who are that I love so much. Every turn is something new and exciting to see and you can never be bored. There’s a million and one things to do in the city and even more to eat. Which is probably reason #2 why I love going. The food is the bommmmmmb.

Over the weekend, Andrew and I took a short trip to the city. It was cold but so awesome to see all the christmas decorations and lights. We put our name down for dinner at an Italian restaurant and had an hour to kill so we figured we’d walk to Rockafeller Center to check out the Christmas Tree. You know that pre-dinner walk so you can fit more food into your belly? Anyways… Holy cow going on a Saturday night is not a good idea. It was so crowded, you could barely move. So once we made our way out of the crowd we somehow found ourselves on this closed off street in front of the Radio City Music Hall. I have no idea how I was able to get no people in this shot but I did. If you look at either side of the sidewalks you can see some people walking by but it really doesn’t depict just how many people were actually there. I don’t know how to express just how many people were there and how amazed I am for not getting any of them in this image. LOL. *pats self on back*

My camera settings for this image F4.0 at 1/13th of a second at ISO 1250 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

On the same day that I was looking down at times square, I was also looking up. I took this image about 30 minutes before that other one from the rooftop bar and I was actually on solid ground for this one. HAHA.

I’ve always wanted an image like this from times square. The buildings are just so massive all around you that I knew there was a way. For some reason, I’ve found it really difficult to capture in the past. I guess all I needed were just some dark cloudy skies and birds flying above me all at the right moment. Patiences is obviously key in photography. But I really like this image because it just feels like a big hug from the buildings. Everyone all at once, “awwwww”.

Without my 16-35mm wide angle lens, I would not have been able to capture all of it. But now that I’m looking at the image again, I wish I would have gotten lower to capture it. If I was kneeling down on the ground, I think I would have been able to capture much more of the buildings on the edges and maybe would have been able to fill in some of the spaces in between? Who knows. Either way, I’m happy with the way this one turned out. There was a fair amount of lens correcting that went into this. I also like how the cloudy skies give the buildings a mood of darkness. Usually when you visit times square, all you see are the lights. It’s like a totally different view.

Which makes me think, if I didn’t tell you that this was times square, would you have been able to guess the location?

My camera settings for this image are F/8 at 1/60th of a second ISO 400.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was taking our dog, Frankie on walks to different places in the city. This was taken on our second to last day. It was extra cloudy with a little bit of wind but so nice and comfortable to be outside. We made our way to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade but we parked our car just above it. What a cute little neighborhood. I’m sorry I don’t know the name but it looked just like the houses did in the Cosby Show. Wasn’t that based in Brooklyn too?

Anyways, it was Andrew and I’s goal to take pictures of Frankie with different landmarks behind him. So obviously, we had to take a picture of him with the Manhattan skyline in the back. He’s balancing on a bike share stand and looks thrilled, doesn’t he? HAHA He’s such a good boy but for some reason, he gets scared to jump off of things. Even when we’re home, he doesn’t like jumping off the couch or bed, so he has to be brought up onto furniture if he wants gets on it. That’s the only way he’s guaranteed a way down.He won’t jump up on his own. So we knew if we put him up on this bike stand, he would not jump. He’d just stand there for as long as we’d let him. LOL.

Whenever I look at this picture, I just smile. I’d love to take him on my trips. Don’t you think he’d look awesome next to the faces at Mount Rushmore. HAHAHA. Crazy dog mom? Maybe… But look at him. He loves it!

My settings for this image was F/5.6 at 1/320th of a second ISO 200. No tripod or anything. Just love.

Have a great weekend everyone! That week was short!

And this is the same place as Monday’s blog post, but looking down. How freaky is this view? Right?

I don’t know why, but I find myself trying to get a closer look in to all the windows and trying to see if I can see anyone else on these rooftops. Is that creepy? Yes, but I can’t help it. For some reason, this image just brings me in closer and closer to look at all the details. I love how some lights are on, some are off. You can even see some furniture and.. OK I’ll stop. But I think my favorite part is looking at the roof top fans. LOL. I guess I don’t see things like that everyday so they interest me even more so in this image. Just another crazy view of how busy New York City really is. How everyone’s lives are so different but all in the same little area. On the top left hand corner is a perfect view of times square. Congested with all the sparkling lights. And this image was taken on a random Tuesday night. Can you imagine what it’d be like on a Saturday night? Woah.

Funny story: this particular evening was super cloudy and dark. Rain was off and on and Andrew and I were in a taxi on our way to dinner. We drove right through times square and I was busy looking at my phone. All of the sudden it got really light and I was like ‘OMG the sun came out!” I was super excited because I dunno, I guess I like the sun. But when I looked up it was actually just the lights from times square! Isn’t that nuts! It’s so bright that I thought the sun came out. HAHA

The settings for this image was F7.1 for 0.4 seconds at ISO 800.