ANGELA B. PAN

We flew in and out of Portland and hit the ground running. Our first stop upon arrival was donuts, but as soon as we picked up the essentials, we made our way to Cannon Beach. LOL. Just an hour and a half from Portland but by the time we arrived at our hotel, I was exhausted. We spent a little time walking around the beach but it was mostly spent decompressing in our hotel.

So Andrew and I woke up early the next morning (while Frankie continued to sleep in the hotel) and made our way to Ecola State Park. While researching the Oregon trip, this seemed like the place to be to get a great overall view of Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock and it really was. I loved how peaceful it was in the morning and for a little while, we were the only ones there.

If I remember correctly, the tree on the left-hand side was a stand-alone tree and probably one of the biggest ones at the viewpoint. I captured this image while we were walking back to the car. I loved the way the branch was framing Haystack Rock. I’ll be sharing more images from this view soon because it was just so impressive. I just thought this one was an interesting one and slightly different from what you typically see at Ecola State Park.

My camera settings for this image are F10 at 1/320th sec and ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

Home from our amazing trip to Oregon. It was Andrew, Frankie and I’s first time visiting the state and in one short week, I feel like we got to see a lot. I was so excited to start looking at my images when I got back that I didn’t really know where to start.

So I started with this one 🙂 I love it and reminds me of all the amazing adventures the three of us got to go on.

This image was taken on the second half of our trip while we were hiking to the Toketee Falls in the Umpqua National Forest. The hike was short, 0.8 miles roundtrip but its heavily trafficked. So much so that it was hard to find parking and there were times where we would have to wait for people to pass on the trail before we could even go further. With so many people, we figured it would be easier to put Frankie in the backpack and go at our own pace instead of his.

We let him out right after I captured this image when we arrived at the waterfall. It was great because there was a little viewing platform for all of us to see the waterfall and Frankie could stretch his legs a bit. After a little rest, Frankie went back into the backpack, we hiked back to the car and drove straight to Bend right after.

I think one of the best parts about this trip is that even though we would have long driving sessions, there would be places where we could park and go on like hikes like this. It was a great way to get a little bit of cardio in while checking out the sights.

My camera settings for this image are F4.5 and 1/2500th sec and ISO 800 with my Sony A7II and 24-70mm lens.

Taken on the same day we took the tour around the Reach, we ended the excursion on the Kennedy Center Roof Terrace. I am in love with this roof terrace. The lines are amazing and I love how you can get such a great view of the Potomac River and Watergate Complex Apartments. Everything about this place is a photographer’s dream.

So pictured in this image is Morgan. I met her during the tour and she wore the most perfect outfit to be photographed in. I’m in love with the color and how flowy it is. I think my friend, Jarrett had the same idea because he was the one who asked her to pose for a few images. I think his specific instructions were to “jump, but don’t act like you’re jumping” LOL. Worked for me.

In order to capture this image, I got down real low to take it. I wanted to make her jump look higher than it really was- like she is levitating in the air. And then I placed the top of the rooftop so that it made for a direct line to her face. Just everything about it, the colors, the line and simplicity of this image makes me want to practice portraiture even more!

So if you don’t have any plans this weekend, I’d highly recommend checking out the Reach at the Kennedy Center. It’s very, very cool and opens tomorrow 🙂

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/4000th sec and ISO 250 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom.

If you’re like me and drive on 66 past the Kennedy Center, you must have been wondering what they are building there? I feel like there have been a massive hole and cranes by the Kennedy Center for at least 2 years now, but never knew what it was.

I finally got my answer a couple of weeks ago when I was invited to visit the Reach at the Kennedy Center. I was so excited to hear that it’s an extension of the Kennedy Center that’s all about interaction and inspiring art. To be honest, it’s way cooler than I thought it would be.

Set to open this weekend, we got invited while the building was still getting its final touches. So despite the construction that was going on, I was still awestruck by the beauty. I loved how simple and clean the lines of the building were. It’s very minimalistic but with beautiful details just like the Kennedy Center.

Besides the architecture and beauty of the building, my favorite part was when we stumbled upon a class of dancers practicing ballet. If I remember correctly, these young adults were from New York and were there for a performance. I loved being able to peek at them from a window above. What an inspiring place for art.

Since I couldn’t decide which were my favorite images, I decided to include a couple more. I hope you enjoy and get a chance to visit the Reach this weekend!

My camera settings for the first image is F4 at 1/1250sec and ISO 640 and my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom.

So I have to admit, I was a little hesitant to post this image. I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate but it’s such a cool shot! LOL.

I captured this image the same night I was out with my friend, Zack storm chasing. We actually started off the night at the Lincoln Memorial, figured the storm was moving in a direction that it would look cool at the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial and then eventually ended at the Washington Memorial. I didn’t expect the lightning so I didn’t have my tripod so to capture this, I was using the flower beds in the middle of the walk area as my support. But it’s so funny because this was the first shot that both Zack and I took at this location and we both caught the same lightning strike with the same point of view. LOL.

I blame the low hanging clouds. The clouds were hanging so low and heavy that there weren’t that many huge strikes that evening. If there was, they seemed to crawl horizontally across the sky. And since I was using the flower beds as support, I couldn’t fully see my composition so it was a happy surprise to see the leaves on top of the image. I think it frames everything so well.

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/13th sec and ISO 1600 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

Now that I’m officially a sunset photographer, this was probably the best skies I’ve seen in a while. It’s a funny story because I was actually on my way to the gym when at the last minute I decided that I would go out to shoot. I don’t know what actually compelled me to do it, let’s just call it a photographer’s intuition. LOL.

On my way to the city, my friend, Birch texted me and told me she was on her way there too. We decided to meet at the WWII memorial and I’m so glad we did. I was able to capture this awesome reflection. One that I don’t think I’ve photographed like this before. In order to capture it, I got down really low behind the memorial. Mostly because I wanted to avoid people’s heads that were actually in the memorial, but mostly because I wanted to see if i could get something different. It’s so simple and it may be a little confusing but I really like the way that it turned out. Kinda alien spacecraft like but also interesting with the Washington Monument poking out and its reflection 🙂

My camera settings for this image is F4.5 at 1/60th sec and ISO 250 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide-angle lens.