ANGELA B. PAN

Before settling into San Diego, we spent the last few days of 2018 in Joshua Tree National Park. I was so excited because I’ve never been but have always heard how amazing it is. It totally lived up to expectations. It is beautiful.

The if-y part about it was the government shut down. We arrived just days after it started and wasn’t sure what it would be like in the park. Since it was our first time, I don’t know if it was quieter than usual but it was definietly like we had the park all to ourselves. With a couple of random people who would drive by, it was great to explore without having to worry about being in anyone else’s way. But on second thought, it could have been the temperatures that deviated people from visiting. It was cold! and so windy.

I captured this image on the very first day of 2019. It was a sunrise hike to welcome in the new year and the last thing we did before leaving Joshua Tree. If you’re traveling with kids, Joshua Tree is a great place for them to explore. These huge boulder rocks are along several very easy trails and if they’re anything like, Axl, he loved climbing on all of them. The only hard part was getting him up before sunrise. LOL.

I was standing on some rocks when I heard from a distance, “Tita Angela, you are so far away!” I turned around and saw his little head peeking through the rocks and thought it was the cutest little scene. I’m so glad he enjoyed the national park and look forward to hiking with him in different places as he grows up.

My camera settings for this image is F6.3 at 1/100th sec and ISO 800 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom.

This may sound crazy but a couple weeks ago I bought my very first pair of real hiking boots. For the amount of hiking that I’ve done with just plain ol’ sneakers, these definietly came at the right time. Don’t get me wrong or anything, I feel no aches or pains with my sneakers, I just think that I’ll be better supported with some proper footwear. They’ll definietly come in handy next month 😉

But for now, heres an image from my last hike. This was taken at the end of the trail at Old Rag in Shenandoah National Park. Just steps away from the parking lot was this house covered by trees and bushes. It down poured on us at the end of our hike. By the time I reached this house it had already stopped raining but all the steam that came from the rain and the humidity mixing literally made everything glow. I just love how that one branch is pointing directly at the point of the roof to make everything so centered in this image. Even the trees surrounding the house almost look perfectly straight as if they were grown for this image. Everything is just so straight up and down, I love it!

Also, if you’re not busy tonight, you should definietly come out to the Community Collective show at Sospeso. This is the third time that my friend, Jarrett has put together a show to showcase so many creative people in the Washington DC area. It should be a great time. I even have a piece that will be featured and is for sale. So if you’re interested in seeing some great art work, click here to find out more information 🙂

The settings for this image is F5.0 at 1/320th of a second at ISO 800 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm lens.

This was taken early morning on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend. That’s a lot of cars, huh? I was pretty surprised by how many people were out so early in the morning, especially on a holiday weekend. They must have known it was going to be a good sunrise too 🙂 Why else would people wake up if they weren’t taking pictures, right?

Not sure what actually drew me to taking this image but I think it turned out pretty awesome. I love how the street lights are so evenly spaced with the Washington Monument. I also think it is really cool to see the car light trails on either side of the image and the glow of the lights on the railings. Is it crazy to say with so much movement going on in this image that it actually gives me some peace when I’m looking at it? I find the peace when I’m looking at the reflection of the monument in the water and the nearly clear sky. I love the orange glow that’s going on the right side of the image and I wonder if the cars passing by even notice it. I think it’s easy for people who live in this area to be sort of dismiss these views but I think they are spectacular. I love photographing this city!

My camera settings for this image is F/9 at 2.5 seconds and ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm lens on my gitzo tripod.

As a side note, it is completely safe to capture this image. But I find it weird that I can feel the cars passing by as I’m standing on Kutz Memorial Bridge and that little bit of rumbling doesn’t effect the focus or sharpness of the image. Does anyone know why that’s the case?

I was talking to my friend, Sue the other day on the phone. We have a lot of the same interests. Cute animal videos, funny memes and travel – so we have a lot to talk about. LOL. We both have done a lot of traveling this year, both together and separately. So we were talking about our favorite places. Obviously, our cross country road trip came up a lot but one thing we both had in common was that we did a lot of traveling within the United States. The best part was that we both had gone to places that we have never been to before.

One of the top places on my list this year was Colorado. I’m not sure how many times I can say this, but I LOVED it. I am definietly going back. This image was taken while I was waiting for the sun to go down at Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. It sort of reminds me of the sheet music for a piano scale. (OMG I can’t believe I just said that. If my mom just read that last sentence, she’d be so proud of me right now. HAHAHA I haven’t touched a piano in like 20 years). The way that the trees on the left flow into the mountains and then right back into more trees. I find the rhythm in this image very interesting. I also really enjoy the subtle streaks in the water. It may take a second to notice but once I saw them, I keep on looking at them.

So cheers to Monday! Cheers to Travel! and Cheers to our next adventure together in Maine, Sue!

My camera settings for this image is 1/160th of a second at F/9 and ISO 125 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

It’s hard to say which was my favorite spot on the road trip, but White Sands National Monument is definietly up there in the rankings. A strong #1 or #2 for sure. Before leaving for the trip, it was the place I was most excited to visit and it definietly did not disappoint. The initial drive into the park was like we drove on to another planet. I had never seen anything like it. We were surrounded by white sand dunes and I could not have been happier. My favorite part are the lines that the wind creates in the sand. I thought I’d have to search long and hard to find a dune that was untouched but it’s crazy because they were everywhere! The sand was really soft like beach sand but not hot like it. We left our shoes in the car because it was just so much easier walking around barefoot.

I planned on having a little photoshoot here so I purposely packed a flowy dress for the occasion. We may or may not have changed in the welcome center’s bathroom. LOL. What I didn’t expect was a rain storm right at sunset when we arrived! It was like the most exciting photoshoot everrrrr! So the sand dunes are not huge but it can get tiring if you’re running up and down the thing several times. At one point Sue asked if I was ok because I was kneeling down with my tripod and camera breathing so heavily. The only thing I could say was “yes, I’m just so excited” and kept on shooting and shooting.

I’d highly recommend visiting if you ever find yourself in or near New Mexico. The whole park is just incredibly beautiful.

The settings for this image was f/6.3 at 1/10th of a second ISO 200.

Today on our road trip we’re driving from Oklahoma City, OK to Roswell, New Mexico. Over the weekend we zipped past the east coast and most of the central time zone with only a few stops. This was intentional because Sue and I wanted to spend most of the time in the south west. The temperatures will be hot but the pictures will be too, amiright? *high five* Really looking forward to the rest of this adventure. Follow along on my instagram stories to see what we’ve been getting up to in real-time.

The image above was taken just a few weeks ago in Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. I loved seeing these little cacti along the walking trails. Every time I saw one, I’d squeal. They’re just so cute. I bet if you were just walking, you wouldn’t even notice them. They aren’t very big and there weren’t very many of them but it’s little details like this that I love photographing. Things other might have passed by but if you really take your time and look around, they’re so fun to see. The sunrise lighting was perfect. Perfectly describes the mood I felt while I was there, happy and warm.

I did not have a macro lens with me on this trip, so I shot this with my 16-35mm wide angle. That was so I could make sure to get enough foreground and background in this shot. My camera settings for this image was f7.1 at 1/25th of a second at ISO 250. My favorite part is seeing the glow on all the plants in this image. Especially the tall purple flowers on the right hand side. Barely noticeable, but it’s there 🙂 And who knows who’s foot prints those are in the very front. They definietly were not mine.