ANGELA B. PAN

Hope you enjoyed the last two blog posts where I relieved some of my favorite moments of 2018. If you missed it, you can see them here and here. There were just so many images to choose from because I tend to like all my images LOL. but for some reason this one didn’t make the cut.

This evening at the US Capitol was pretty epic. There was barely any rain but the lightning strikes were going crazy. It was perfect. The only reason why it didn’t make the 2018 favorites just because I wasn’t able to capture the lightning strikes like how I’d hoped for. I was really hoping for a huge strike like this one I captured in 2016. Man, I think capturing that image has sort of made me a bit jaded from all the other lightning strikes I’ve been able to capture. Like this one is cool and all but… LOL.

But I do really like this image because of the composition. Those clouds were epic and I loved the way the sky turned from dark blue to purple when the lightning would hit. Just showing that little bit of of the US Capitol dome is all the information you need to know exactly where you’re standing. It was beautiful night and I was so lucky to even capture anything at all.

So let me know, were there images that you liked in 2018 that weren’t on my list? I’d be really interested in hearing your opinion.

Either way, I’m so looking forward to 2019! It’s going to be a fantastic year with hopefully a lot more photo opportunities like this one to capture that huge lightning strike I’ve been looking out for.

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/13th sec at ISO 400 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.

I have this song playing in the background as I’m writing this blog post. Although I don’t share the same thoughts about rain with Missy Elliot, I do appreciate a catchy beat when I hear it. LOL. Oh, how I make myself laugh.

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll know how important music is to me. I love it. It just puts me in such a good mood. Whether I’m driving, taking pictures, editing pictures, whatever it is, there’s a song for any mood you are in. And watching music videos is something that I remember doing ever since the Total Request Days with Carson Daily. I’d come home from school, heat up a hot pocket, and spend the next hour mesmerized by song and dance. I think watching the visual representation of a song makes the song so much more enjoyable to me. I guess that means I am just a very visual person.

But about this image… This was taken right before a big storm was about to approach the Washington Monument. Luckily, it was around the same time as sunset and it made the sky turn this amazingly warm color in the sky. The coolest part is seeing the cloud formation right on top of that sun. I also enjoy looking at each individual flag and seeing how different they are blowing in the wind. Yea, that evening was something very special.

So unlike Missy Elliot, I love the rain. I love the pre-rain, post-rain, and rainbows. Actual rain, I’m sort of iffy about. As long as my camera gear doesn’t get damaged, then I’m all good 🙂

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/13th of a second ISO 100 on my Canon 5d Mark II with my 17-40mm wide angle lens.

As far as photography goes, summer is my favorite because of the storms. We can get some pretty serious storm rain here in the DC area but the great part about them is that they don’t last too long. Usually about 30 minutes which is perfect! The best is when they end right around sunset. Man the skies open up and all this light comes through. It’s so beautiful.

Last week was no exception. Not only did we have amazing fog, but we got a crazy down pour of rain that ended right before sunset. It was everything that I wish for. But for some reason, I could not figure out where I wanted to go shoot. I was being indecisive driving around when I finally saw the back of the Lincoln Memorial. Skrrrch. Stop right there. The light that was being casted on the columns was so pretty and warm. Luckily I found the very first parking spot open on the Arlington Memorial bridge and rushed toward the memorial. Then I got stopped in my tracks when I noticed this puddle on the sidewalk. It was a perfect reflection of the memorial as well as the light that was being casted. I’m pretty sure I got a lot of crazy looks by the cars that were driving past, but it doesn’t matter. I was so excited to capture one. And on my first try! I was so surprised how well everything lined up.

My camera settings for this image was F/4.0 at 5 seconds ISO 160 handheld. The only reason I shot this handheld was because I couldn’t get low enough on my tripod to get the majority of the reflection. Plus with my really right stuff tripod bracket, it made it easy to hold it up without my camera getting wet.

This is probably my third or forth time seeing a rainbow over the US Capitol. You can see one example here and another one here. But it wasn’t until this rainbow where I realized this is probably the best spot to catch rainbows in DC. 3 out of 4 times it will be directly over the dome and it’s just a beautiful sight to see. It will be slightly off center or totally off to the side at any of the other memorials. But now that I think of it, it might work from behind the Lincoln Memorial. So…. note to self. Check that out next time it rains 🙂

Anyways, I left my house a little early to make sure I had time to catch sunset. I figured with all the rain, traffic was going to be horrible and I was right! I came from a different direction than I usually do which meant that I parked my car on a totally different side of the street. I was way off to the right when I usually park in the middle. From the middle it was two perfect arches over the dome. But it worked out in my favor because I was able to get a totally different perspective of the rainbow and the dome. At first I was envisioning the rainbow pouring out of the dome but then I realized I could see the reflection of the rainbow in the street puddle, omg it was over. I was down, kneeling in the middle of the street for like 10 minutes. Luckily, its not a busy street. Luckily, all the nice people who wanted to drive on the street at least honked their horn at me instead of running me over. At one point, I was side by side next to that red tour bus you can see coming down the road. He didn’t flinch and neither did I. I’m just glad I didn’t get splashed. That would have been inconvenient.