ANGELA B. PAN

Ok a little break from the moody weather pics in Washington DC and onto a moody weather pic in Aruba. LOL.

While in Aruba, if we wanted to go anywhere, we’d most likely be traveling by foot or taxi. I love taking taxis because you’re able to talk to the driver and get some local information that only they know. For example, one of our taxi drivers told us that they don’t have weathermen in Aruba. Isn’t that crazy? It’s because the weather is pretty much the same everyday and there would really be no need for him or her. It’s consistently 85 degrees with no humidity and a slight breeze all the time. It’s like a dream. If it does rain, it will only rain for a 20 minutes and it’s back to sunny skies. The really nice part about Aruba is that it’s right outside of hurricane belt so that’s not even really a concern either.

But then why did it rain on our trip? LOL 2 out of the 3 full days that we were there, there was some crazy down pour. It was sunny at some points in the day but overall, it was pretty overcast like it is in this image. Oh well, you can’t win them all…

I love looking at this image. It totally reminds me of what it’s like in Aruba. Palm trees everywhere and I can just imagine them flowing in the wind with that amazing breeze. It’s like I have been transported back. Which reminds me, I’ve been working on the Aruba vlog. Expect that to be coming out very soon! At least before the end of the month. Pinky promise!

My camera settings for this image is F6.3 at 1/500th of a second at ISO 64 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

So remember how in May I said I was so excited for summer because there’s going to be so many rain storms and I can’t wait to practice my lightning shots? I thought that since they started so early this season there would be plenty of opportunities to photograph them for the next few months.

Well guess what? After that one week, we’ve haven’t had any! Actually I take that back. We’ve had a few here and there but they have all been in the middle of the day. I think the best lightning storms are at night so they light up the night sky. There’s more contrast so it will be easier to see them and photograph them.

So this was the last time I was out photographing the lightning. There must have been some kind of event or something going on at the US Capitol because the whole time I was out I kept on seeing people all dressed up walking in and out. No one really seemed to mind that there was lightning going on. Everyone was so giggly and trying to take selfies with the clouds. I can’t imagine them coming out that great but at least they tried.

The forecast this week looks promising though. I hope that we can get at least 1 good night. Although last week I sent in my Sony camera in for a little maintenance. I’ve been using the camera almost everyday for the past 3 years. It needed a good little tune up. I wanted to get it done before my next trip so I thought that this week would have been a good week to do so because I didn’t have anything major planned. So if we do get lightning, I’ll be photographing them with my Canon. I kinda remember how to use it… so this should be interesting. LOL

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/6th of a second ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

PS If you are in the DC area, check out Sospeso. The Community Collective currently has a show going on and were kind enough to feature one of the images from this series. And if you feel like it, you can even purchase the printed frame. So grab a glass a wine and check out all the beautiful artwork.

Man oh Man what a week. A freakin’ awesome week to be more specific! At one point in time Snap DC was #1 on the charts for best selling travel book in the Mid atlantic region! Does that make me a best selling author? AHHH!!!! So crazy. But I believe it’s still number one in new releases in the same category. I seriously can’t say thank you enough! I’m so excited!

This image was taken last Saturday evening after the photowalk. My friend, Zack and I stuck around the Tidal Basin for a little while to see what blue hour would look like and it did not disappoint! At one point in time the sky was doing this thing where you were able to see the shadow of the Washington Monument in the clouds! It was awesome. And in turn you were able to see all of that reflecting in the water.

But the CRAZIEST part about it all was that there were bats flying above us the entire time. WHO KNEW THERE WERE BATS IN WASHINGTON DC? Definietly not me. That was the first time I’d ever seen any. At one point in time I swear there were like 6 flying above us. It was absolutely nuts. I could not stop staring. It was like I was shooting the Washington Monument and holding my camera steady with my hand but my eyes were in the sky following the bats (making sure they weren’t coming close to us). It’s seriously something new everyday at the National Mall. I swear!

Anyways, hope you all have a wonderful Memorial day weekend! Thanks again for all the support with Snap DC. If you have received your copy already, hope you can get out there and take some awesome pictures.

My camera settings for this image is F4.0 at 1/4th of a second and ISO 1600 handheld with my A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

I know it’s not obvious in this picture but I am loving life right here! LOL.

It’s true. The skies were moody and cloudy, I’m in my favorite place in the whole wide world and I have my airpods in listening to an audible book. What could be better?

Maybe a tripod… but meh.

I like the perspective though. It was another one of those, put your backpack down and hope that the image comes out well. At first I envisioned the dandelions to be as tall as the Washington Monument. When that didn’t work out, I just set my timer to see what it would look like if there was a human element in it. I liked it! So I started posing as if I didn’t know I was taking my own picture. LOL.

I remember I took this on a Sunday evening. I knew the sunset wasn’t going to be great, color wise, but I just wanted to get out there and go for a walk with my camera. It could have been the 4 slices of pizza I ate prior to the photowalk, but it was just so nice to be out in fresh air and doing what I love doing.

And PS Thank you Thank you Thank you to everyone who has ordered Snap DC so far. I am LOVING all the pictures you’re sending and all the feedback. You seriously made my whole year already. I don’t know how long this is going to last for but Amazon actually dropped the price of the book. I had no idea that they were going to do that so the original price was $29.69 and now its on sale for $24.78. So if you haven’t already, I’d get your copy of the guide now.

My camera settings for this image is F6.3 at 1/320th of a second and ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

Like I said yesterday, the fog that we had over the weekend was RIDICULOUS. And what was even weirder was the fact that it was raining while it was still so foggy out. I thought with the rain coming down that it will make the fog disappear. If you look closely at this image, you can even see the water droplets in the water. But no. At times it seemed like it got even foggier. We had a good 2 hours worth of this moody weather to photograph and I loved every minute of it. I was so excited to hear about it that I left the house without a jacket. Luckily I had a beanie in the car or else I would have been really out of luck. Thanks again to my my friend, Birch for telling me about it as it was happening.

I think my favorite part of this image is something I did unintentionally. If you look at the very right of the image there’s a tree bending like it’s trying to leave the image. I love how the person with the umbrella lines up directly with that tree trunk. I don’t know if anyone else wold notice it but I love that little detail that just accidentally happened.

Birch and I were talking about something unrelated to the scene that was happening in front of us but we were both shooting it at exactly the same time. As that person turned the corner, we stopped what we were doing and saying, looked at each other and said “that was awesome” like we both knew we got the shot! AHHH I LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS!

My camera settings for this image is F4.5 at 1/400th of a second at ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and my 16-35mm wide angle lens handheld.

I had the pleasure of getting a sneak peak of the Freer and Sackler gallery before the reopening in early October. Shout out to IGDC for the amazing invite. It was so cool to see all the beginning stages of the museum. I say the beginning stages because it is currently under reconstruction and some of the exhibits had been taken down. So it was interesting to see the ‘before’.

You can’t tell from this image, but one of my favorite parts was all the natural lighting. The museum is shaped like a square with an inner courtyard in the middle. All the hallways have these amazing windows that lets you look out to the center. The coolest part is that it even housed peacocks at one point! I would have loved to see them. Hence, the peacock room! We got to see it with the windows opened which brought in this amazing light. I’ll have to share an image of it later. But if you get a chance to see the museum when it reopens, definietly check it out. It was very beautiful and all the gold gave me the chills.

One interesting fact that I will always remember is that though it is a predominately asian art museum (with a little bit of American sprinkled in), the architecture is Italian Palazzo. This was because Charles Freer, the museum’s designer stopped in Italy on his way to Asia. He was heavily influenced by the asian cultures but wanted to incorporate the Italian architecture. I think marrying these two cultures was such a unique idea. If you walk around the museum, make sure to be looking up as well. The ceilings and arches are beautiful!

It was my first time visiting this museum and as you can see, I really enjoyed it. I can’t wait to visit again when it reopens. The image of the staircase was just a small detail but loved the texture and lines that it formed.