ANGELA B. PAN

So my favorite view from the Washington Monument was definitely facing west with views of the World War II Memorial, Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial. It may have been because we were there around sunset and obviously you want to be facing west, but it was the Reflecting Pool that kept on catching my eye. I couldn’t believe how still and peaceful the water looked. It literally looked like glass from above.

But out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an airplane flying by in the sky and you could see it in the reflecting pool. It was the coolest thing ever. Luckily, at that time of the night, there’s pretty much an airplane that flys by ever ten minutes. So I just waited a bit for another one to come and tried my best to capture it in the reflection.

I also love seeing all the traffic around the memorial and into Arlington, Virginia. GAH I love these elevated views. Can’t wait to go up in the Washington Monument again to capture some more!

If you have any questions about getting tickets or what it’s like up there, please feel free to let me know. I’m currently writing a guide that will explain the process.

My camera settings for this image are F4.5 at 1/30th sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

If you’ve never been to the top of the Washington Monument, you need to. It’s a whole new perspective on the city that you won’t get anywhere else. At 555 ft, you can basically see EVERYTHING. For instance, I saw the basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Nationals Park, Virginia, Maryland… EVERYTHING. It’s very cool.

This image was taken at the windows facing north with views of the White House, The Ellipse, and so many more buildings behind it. They are small windows and at each of the windows, there’s a little platform for what I’m guessing for children to stand on so they can see out the window. So if you’re really tall, you may have to crouch down a bit.

In case you were wondering, each direction of the Monument only has two windows so there is a good chance that you may have to wait a bit before you get to see the view. But the part that I love most is that there are plaques underneath them pointing out all the major landmarks. It’s so interesting to look at the plaques and then look out the window to realize what you’re actually looking at. It’s so interesting to see how each of the places related to each other from such a high point of view.

These were just two people looking out the window, contemplating their view. I love how the man has his hand near his mouth to create that curve in his wrist. I don’t know, something about it made this image so interesting. Also, you may notice the smudge. Yes, the windows could use a bit of cleaning…

My camera settings for this image is F10 at 1/125th sec and ISO 640 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

After 3 years of repair work, the Washington Monument finally reopened. I was so excited to get back up there, I had only been once before – the last time it reopened. LOL.

So I heard a rumor that it was actually staying open until 9 pm the first week that it was opened. I had to jump on this opportunity as fast as I could because it will be difficult to get sunset views like that ever again. There’s a possibility that it could happen again in November when the sunset is closer to 5 pm (the regular closing time), but to be able to take my time and take images as I please, I wanted to get up there asap.

From now until October 15th, you will have to go in the morning to line up and get tickets at the Monument for the same day. After the 15th, it can be done online. But waking up early in the morning never stood in my way. I arrived around 6:45 am and I was about 20th in line. Luckily, you can request what time you want to go up and so I got it for 6:30 pm.

It was a cloudless day but the sun was still glowing all over the city. Obviously, I spent most of my time in the window facing east. I love this view of the WWII memorial with my long lens. It’s so interesting to see all the people and what they are doing… from above 🙂

My camera settings for this image are F10 at 1/40th sec and ISO 640 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm lens.

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A few video clips from our recent trip to Oregon 🙂

PS If you’re planning a trip to Oregon, here are the details of what we did.

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.