ANGELA B. PAN

Happy 4th of July! This was the first year I watched the show from Netherlands Carillon in Arlington, VA, rented a lens for the event, and the weather conditions worked perfectly in our favor. I don’t think I could have asked for a better way to celebrate Independence Day.

The fireworks prep started a few weeks prior to the 4th. I wanted to do something special this year since I missed out on photographing the fireworks last year. So I decided that I would rent the 200-600mm lens again from lensrentals.com.  I like renting from them because they are a small business and I’ve had nothing but good experiences with them. They have a selection of gear and prices that are comparable to other gear rental companies I’ve seen so why not.

iPhone 11 plus PAN-orama of Netherlands Carillon waiting for fireworks

I set the delivery date for July 2nd, figuring I could spend the weekend with the lens and then return it after the holiday. I should have thought about the fact that it was a holiday and shipping things may be delayed. I kept on checking my tracking and the final update said that it wasn’t going to be delivered until July 5th. I was really bummed out and sent an email to lensrentals.com and they were super accommodating with options that would work for both of us.

But that still left me wanting a lens for the 4th. Then I remembered my friend, Larry owns the lens. Fortunately, he had no plans of using it over the weekend and let me borrow it.

On the actual day of the fourth, I met up with my friends Michael and Virginia at Netherlands Carillon. Netherlands Carillon is just an iconic place to go in Arlington, Virginia that will give you amazing views of the top three landmarks of Washington DC, the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, and the US Capitol. The show was going to start at 9:09 but we had all planned to be there around 6 pm. Luckily we were early enough to find a great spot. At that time, there were a few spots available but if we got there any later, it probably would have been a lot more difficult. The good photo spots were filling up fast.

Not only did Larry let me borrow the 200-600mm lens, but he also lent me his 1.4 teleconverter. All I had to do was mount the teleconverter in between my camera and lens and I was able to zoom from 600mm to 840mm at F8. It was incredible how much more detail it allowed.

At first, the lens had image stabilization off, even using a remote and a tripod, it got a little shake in the images. I assumed it was the teleconverter so I took it off but I was still getting it. I think the 200-600mm lens is just so heavy that no matter what, there was going to be a little shake, especially considering it doesn’t mount directly onto the tripod. It has to be mounted with the lens foot. So I turned my image stabilization back on and all the images turned out super sharp. Luckily there were a few small neighborhood fireworks that were going off before the show that I could practice a little bit to make sure everything was how I needed it to be.

I did not use the teleconverter for the actual show because I thought that would have been too much zoom. The 200-600mm was perfect for some really compressed, tight shots of the monuments. It helped me create a variety of images that I would have not otherwise been able to capture.

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In November 2020, I was out trying to photograph the full moon and unfortunately, clouds had a different idea. The moon was completely covered and I was just standing in the cold with my camera and 70-200mm on a tripod. I could have gone the next night when the sky would have been clear but I just was feeling so discouraged that I didn’t want to. This had been my 3rd month in a row where I wasn’t able to capture the moon. So I wanted to do something that would keep me motivated to go out and shoot.

Right then and there I came up with an idea that I should rent the biggest lens I can find. LOL.

So after discussing this idea with a few friends, I finally decided that I’d rent a 200-600mm lens. This would bring a whole new view to the city that I couldn’t even imagine. I rented it from lensrentals.com and I could not have been more excited that it actually came 3 days earlier than I had expected. So I had 10 days with the lens and I was pumped!

My first real test came on an afternoon at the Washington Monument. It is actually the same exact place where I came up with the idea to rent the lens so it’s funny that this was the first place that I want to go to test it out.

I was blown away!

The compression on the lens is CRAZY. These people were at least 20 feet away from me. The US Capitol is about a mile away from the Washington Monument. But if you asked me, it seriously looks like you could just reach out and touch the people.

It was on!

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Finally! That time of year again 🙂 It’s finally starting to feel like autumn in the DC area with the crispy air. Morning walks with Frankie are requiring a light jacket and I couldn’t be more excited. It’s got me thinking about Shenandoah National Park and surrounding areas to go on the hunt for some color and I’ve already started a to-do list. But in the meantime, I’ve been checking things out locally. Right now, it’s still looking kinda green with a little color but I’m keeping a close eye on it.

This image isn’t technically fall color because these were just yellow plants in front of Netherlands Carillon and I photographed them in 80-degree weather but it reminds me of the type of images the season will bring 🙂 To be completely honest, this reminds of the yellow brick road leading to the Emerald City. LOL.

Either way, autumn color here I come! I’m hyped!

My camera settings for this image is F8 at 1/1000th sec and ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm

This past weekend, I had planned on meeting up with my friend, Larry for sunrise at Netherlands Carillion. But when I actually got to the location, it turned out Larry was already there with a whole group of photographers. It was a nice surprise so early in the morning and great to catch up with Larry, my friend, Frithjov and other photographers.

The sunrise itself was pretty unique. It was a cloudless day but as the sun was rising it was really bright and red. It made the whole sky glow. I think I got some pretty interesting shots, but I think this one is my favorite. It was after the sun had risen and we were all walking back to our cars. I noticed the Iwo Jima Marine Corps War Memorial poking out through the trees and thought it was an interesting perspective that I hadn’t really captured before. At the right moment, this runner came out of the trees and I loved how it added some scale. You can don’t even realize how big this memorial is until you compare it to something you can relate to like this person.

Also, looking at this image makes me excited for fall. I can’t wait for those leaves to change color. I’m going to keep this image in mind for the next few weeks and see if I can come up with a whole new perspective.

My camera settings for this image are F8 at 1/80th sec and ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and my 70-200mm zoom lens.

Now that Snap DC is out and people are starting to receive it in the mail *super excited face*, I felt the need to share this image. This image is in the photo guide but I’ve never shared it online before. One of a few images that are in the book that have never been seen before.

I took it last fall when the flowers in front of the Netherlands Carillon were looking lush and beautiful. In the book I took about how I placed the camera on the ground to make the flowers look larger than life. It’s a technique I practice a lot. Yesterday’s blog post included. LOL. But my favorite part about Netherlands Carillon is that you get the beautiful flowers in the spring, summer and fall but you also get an almost one of a kind view of the big three landmarks-  Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and US Capitol building.  The only other place that you can get a similar view to this is close to the Arlington Memorial Bridge from Roosevelt island which is also discussed in Snap DC.

I know I’ve been talking about the book a lot but I’m just super excited for it. I spent the last 9 months obsessing over it and I can’t believe that other people besides me are now seeing it! So even if you’re a novice, mobile, or advance photographer, I think you will get something out of it. I don’t talk about how to use your camera or anything like that, it’s strictly for composition ideas and where to go shoot around the Nation’s Capitol. Although technically Netherlands Carillon is in Arlington, I mention just a couple of my favorite places to shoot in Northern Virginia.

My camera settings for this image is F8 at 1/15th of a second at ISO 160 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

Thanks to my friend, Jenn who told me the flowers were blooming at Netherlands Carillon. They’re gorgeous! I had no idea there were so many summer flowers blooming there. It feels more like spring is coming than fall.