ANGELA B. PAN

So this was a fail. But I thought it would be a good idea to share it with you.

It did not occur to me that while we were out camping, we would see stars. I don’t know why. It’s just something that completely slipped my mind. I think I was too worried about the actual camping part to even consider anything else.

So after the sunset on our first day in the woods, I was kicking myself for not bringing my 14mm lens. It’s so much faster and I specifically bought it to take more night images like this. *Facepalm x2* So I tried to do best with what I had.

My camera settings for this image is F4.0 at 13 seconds and ISO 5000 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm. I did not have a tripod with me so I did my best by balancing the camera on this big log we were sitting on. I think the colors are really cool in the image. I just wish it were sharper and I know I could have done that with my 14mm.

Oh well. Next time!

Which will be soon because Andrew and I will be traveling to Norway next week! I can’t wait. Neither one of us have been there before and I’m really looking forward to capturing the fjords, waterfalls and the night sky! Don’t worry though, my 14mm is the first lens I’ll be packing in my camera bag. We’ve booked places to stay that right along the water and am really looking forward to just checking out the scenery. I’ve been on pinterest like a madwoman planning out this trip and reading other people’s experiences. I couldn’t sleep the other night because I was just so excited. So if you’ve been to Norway, please let me know. I’d love for any tips or advice.

This image was taken about 30 minutes after I captured this one. The sun came out and was hitting the trees very nicely. By this point, Andrew and I had driven around Emerald Bay so that we were facing west and the sun was just over my right shoulder.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, Andrew and I woke up really early to capture this image. 4 am west coast time so about 7am east coast time which isn’t so bad if you put it in terms of time zones, however by this point we were already adjusted to the west coast time. When I told my family the night before what time Andrew and I were planning on waking up and to go take pictures, they seemed pretty shocked. To be honest, people in general are shocked when I tell them what time I wake up to go take pictures. If you had told college-age me that I would be waking up that early, I’d be shocked too. But at this point I’m used to it. And when we’re home, Andrew usually wakes up early too. I don’t make him wake up early with me when were traveling but he’s just a good supportive husband who wants to make sure I’ll be ok so he’ll come with me too <3

But it’s funny because soon after we came home from this trip, Andrew and I went to a conference to listen to Robert Herjavec (among other people) speak. He talked about how he’s an early riser just so he can get things done before he has to go to work. Everyone thought he was crazy too. But the funny part of it was when he said people would ask him, “but aren’t you tired?” And then Robert said, “of course I’m tired! But I gotta get it done!” LOL so true Robert, so true!

If you ever get the opportunity to see Robert speak, I’d highly recommend it. He was funny, entertaining and inspiring.

My camera settings for this image is F7.1 at 1/100th of a second at ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

We didn’t spend time at Donner Lake. Just a quick pull over to stretch our legs and check out the scene. At this point I was just excited to be out in nature.

The whole time we were there, this was the only really cloudy day that we got. It even rained a little bit which made slightly nervous about the idea of mosquitos waiting for us on top of the mountain but everything ended up being perfect.

By the way, thank you so much for all the birthday wishes yesterday! I had a fantastic day of just doing whatever I wanted to do. Andrew and I went out to eat dinner and had the best seafood ever. This past weekend, I celebrated with my girlfriends and other than that my birthday has been real low key this year. I kinda almost forgot about it because we just got back from the west coast and as soon as I got back, I started preparing for our next trip. Our next trip is in less than two weeks and I can’t even tell you how excited I am for it. There will definietly be a lot more nature images coming your way.

This past year was one of the best ever. Never would have I imagined that I would write and publish a book, work with the Trust for the National Mall for the Ball for the Mall or even have my work in the gift stores at the National Mall. I was able to see my images in various publications and multiple business’ walls and everything is just so exciting. So thank you to everyone who has helped me along the way or even has taken the time out to view my images. I appreciate you!

My camera settings for this image is F7.1 at 1/320th of a second at ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

Like my last couple of trips, I wanted to work on my street photography. I just have so much fun with it and you never really know what you’re going to get.
Similar to the trips to Japan and this one to Aruba.

However going through my images, I found that I took a lot more architectural images than anything else. I thought it was interesting, but not surprising. There are so many hills in San Francisco and it made it slightly difficult to walk, but I really enjoyed the different perspectives you would get throughout the city. Whether you’re on top of a hill or on the bottom, nothing really looked the same one block to the next.

So here are a couple of images I took on the streets of San Francisco.

This was taken somewhere in the financial district and purposely left the words “Turkey. For the win” in. That’s for Andrew because he loves turkey. HAHA

Another POV from a crazy hill somewhere in the Mission District I think and I’m pretty sure I was on top of a hill looking down.

This person was taken their dog on a walk. I just love the different textures and framing this one image has. I was happy with it as soon as I snapped the pic.

There were so many people walking around the Financial District with these bags. I stalked them to find out that it was the American Psychological Association and not the American Photographers Association 🙁 Anyways that’s me in the shadow with my huge backpack on.

Thanks for checking out my images and I hoped you liked them. The very top image is very close to that California Street image I talked about last week. I just love that early morning light that’s on the buildings. Also, today’s my birthday! 🙂

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll know that Navin Sarma was one of my first ever photo friends…. ever.

I’m not sure how we found each other but it had to have been before instagram was even a thing. I even remember being kinda hesitant meeting up with him for the first time because I was just meeting some guy I met from the internet really early in the morning. And as usual, he was late.

But in the end, he has become one of my favorite people to go out to shoot with. It’s always been super casual and talking about the most random stuff. He was with me when I unintentionally captured my very first lightning shot! And the following year we sat on the hill by the Air Force Memorial and intentionally captured even more lightning shots like this one.

Last year he left the Washington DC area to move to California. We’ve stayed in touch so when I booked the trip to San Francisco, he was one of the first people to know about it. I definietly wanted to try to meet up and shoot again. So luckily it worked out that the first night we were in the Bay Area, Navin was able to pick Andrew and I up and take us to Marin Headlands. We noticed the fog approaching and thought a higher point of view would be really cool image  of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was so great to see him again.

You can notice the fog a little bit above the Golden Gate Bridge but what I like most about this image is the light that hitting the top of the bridge. I love how it just pops. Betcha didn’t notice the sailboat in the water. I actually didn’t notice it at first either. HAHA

My camera settings for this image is F8 at 1/250th of a second at ISO 640 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens handheld.

This was my very first time camping. And when I say camping, I mean real camping. No running water, no bathrooms, sleeping outside in the wilderness, as real as it’s going to get. To be honest, I was a little nervous. Sleeping on the ground never really interested me much, plus I hate getting mosquito bites.

Luckily we went with my sister-in-law’s family who had experience camping and they were super prepared. Like they brought burners so we had hot food for every meal, 2 water filtration systems, and even a shovel so we could dig poop holes. I KNOW RIGHT! WE HAD TO DIG HOLES TO POOP IN!!!! It was so the bears couldn’t smell us. I’m still so grateful Andrew came with us last minute on this trip. He shoveled all my poop holes. I just had to cover them when I was done with my business.

I also thought I’d be super uncomfortable not being able to shower for 2 nights. But in the end, the non-showering part wasn’t even that bad. LOL.

But every morning I woke up to views like this. No alarm clock needed. Just woke up with the sun woke up. And it was totally worth it. Would I go again? I dunnooooo. Maybe in a couple of years. The experience was great and all but it just made me appreciate a mattress so much more. Side note, the elevation was so high that there weren’t even any mosquitos 🙂 Double win!

I’m glad we did it though! Here’s a group shot of us right before we were about to hike back down the trail. We would spend nights sitting on this tree trunk talking and looking up at the stars, so I thought it was an appropriate place for us to take our last group shot.

My camera settings were F7.1 at 1/320th of a second at ISO 160 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.