ANGELA B. PAN

Virginia was issued the initial stay at home order on March 30th, 2020 due to the Coronavirus. It didn’t come as a surprise but it was still something that I had to mentally prepare for. Honestly, one of my first thoughts about it all was, “How am I going to go and take pictures?” Not only is photography fun for me, but it is my way of exploring places, finding stories, and expressing myself. In the past, the longest I had ever gone without taking pictures was a week. I already knew the stay at home order was going to be tough.

The world was a rapidly changing place and I was craving to capture it. Here’s are the images I created in the first two months:

Cherry Blossoms

Covid-19 really started being a concern in the Washington DC area just before the cherry blossom season. We had an unusually mild, dry winter that allowed the cherry blossoms to bloom a bit earlier in the year than they usually do. So I was excited to be able to visit the Tidal Basin with a bit less of a crowd since travel was in the process of slowing down and social distancing was starting to become a new term. I tried to go as much as I could until it started to get too crowded. When it got to be too much, I decided to just stay home and be happy with the images I was able to create. My logic was to take as many pictures as I could until it got to be unsafe and then spend quarantine editing them.

Weekdays at sunrise are really the best times to visit the Tidal Basin during cherry blossom season, Coronavirus or not.

The last day I was at the Tidal Basin when it started to get a little too crowded

The cherry blossom trees are smaller at the Washington Monument, but still just as beautiful. I tried capturing a few images from there since it’s a larger area to roam.

Cherry blossom trees are seen from the George Mason Memorial

Mt Vernon Trail/Georgetown

That weekend, Andrew and I decided that we should try to get out “one last time” before we had to stay home. We decided that the Mount Vernon trail would be a good place to go and stretch our legs. Andrew walked Frankie on the trail which allowed me to take my camera and capture a few images as well.

Considering the stay at home order was placed the very next day, I’m so glad we did this. It was a foggy morning and the trail was not as crowded as it usually is. We parked our car at Gravelly Point and headed towards the Navy Merchant Marine Memorial.

At the cherry blossom peak bloom, but the pink flowers came out a little hazy in the fog.

(L) A quick stop in Georgetown along the Key Bridge. (R) Views of the Washington Memorials are seen all along the Mount Vernon Trail.

Vienna Metro

So this is where my real pandemic images begin. It had been about 1.5-2 weeks since our walk on the Mount Vernon trail and I was going crazy. I had never purposely taken such a long break from taking pictures, and it was not making me feel good. I was really craving creativity, seeing what this new world looked like, and just to walk around with my camera. So I started locally. I mean really local since I live within a few blocks from the metro. I figured with public transportation being at an all-time low, it was probably the safest and most isolated I would ever see it.

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This may sound a little funny, but the other day I woke up to take sunrise pictures and ended up taking pictures of the metro. LOL.

The sunrise itself wasn’t great. It was very cloudy and overcast and I just wasn’t feeling that inspired to take pictures. I found myself just sitting in my car, waiting for something to happen. And nothing ever did.

So I forced myself to get out and walk around. Still not really feeling the situation, I walked passed the metro and decided to go down to check it out. I figured I could try to take some long exposure shots. The image on top was the look I was going for, but I’d like to show a little more motion for next time I try this.

This image was a cool accident. I love how my reflection got in the image below the person standing across the way from me. This must have been captured through a window.

My camera settings for the top image are F2.2 at 1/25th sec and ISO 160 with my Sony A7II and 35mm prime. My camera settings for the second image are F2.2 at 1/15th sec and ISO 160 with my Sony A7II and 35mm prime

I live within walking distance to a metro station but that doesn’t mean I ride it very often. If I had to estimate it, I probably ride it about 3-4 times a year. Once for DC fireworks for the 4th of July and then all the other times will be for random events where the roads are closed in the city or if we have a lot of snow and I want to capture it all. Otherwise, I will rather be driving.

Recently I had to ride the metro and get off at the Federal Triangle station. This was my first time taking the metro to this station and it was a long enough ride that I had to find a bathroom almost immediately after I got off. So I ended up wandering around a little bit and found this great walkway. It was especially nice in the mid-morning light as it was coming through the columns and casting these great shadows. I waited around just enough to capture these two people walking. I made sure to capture them while they were in the light and that you could see their own shadows along the wall. I love the way this turned out with so much repetition going on. This would probably be cool at night when the lights above are turned on.

My camera settings for this image are F6.3 at 1/1250th sec and ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

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.

Yesterday I spent the morning going through some older images from Tokyo, Japan. Andrew and I went there in March of 2016 and it was probably one of my favorite places we’ve ever visited together. Not only is the food amazing but the way of living is just so different. It’s interesting to see the old temples mixed in with the crazy, fast paced city. But even with so many people living in the area, everything is so neat and orderly.

I went to Toyko with the intentions of practicing my street photography but I don’t think I’ve ever posted any of these images or anything like them. So please let me know what you think.

With so many people living in the city, everyone still walks in straight lines. It was fascinating!

I remember seeing this while walking to breakfest one morning. I imagine this is what I’d look like if I were an older Japanese woman living in Tokyo working on my next project.
*those are my legs 🙂

Nothing to really do with street photography except the fact that there were Hello Kitty signage everywhere! I don’t know how people still remained orderly with all this cuteness everywhere. I definietly had to stop and take some pictures!

Looking up on the streets of Shinjuku.

Even the gravel gets a good sweep down

From the Meiji Shrine in Harajuku. I remember it just being so peaceful and quiet.

Just stumbled upon these mirrors but thought they were SOO cool. At the top of these escalators was just a shopping plaza in Harajuku.

I don’t remember which train station this was, but I do remember Andrew and I were on the way to the Tsukiji fish market when I captured this. I love all the lines in this image.

Hope you enjoyed these Japan images and let me know what you think!

Guess What! It wasn’t really a secret, but I never mentioned. But I moved! Not far from where I used to live, but now I’m walking distance to the metro. So the other day, I didn’t have much going on and decided to hope on the metro to see where it would lead me. It was a lot of fun and hope to do it more often and explore the city even more.

Any cool metro stop suggestions?