ANGELA B. PAN

Taken around the same time as this image. I really love those moody, rainstorm clouds. I remember it had been raining on and off all day that day. This happened to be during one of those off periods. What had actually inspired me to take this image was that cartoon you see on the right hand side. In particular that one with the green background and cute little bunny screaming on it. I recognized those characters from our trip to Japan 2 years ago. I believe the cartoon is called ‘Line Town’ and I thought they were so kawaii. They even had their own store near Harajuku and I believe Andrew and I bought a couple of tshirts there for our nieces and nephews. I was so excited to see Line Town come to America that I had to take a cool reflection shot of it. Duhhh! I didn’t make it into the Times Square store but at least I’ll have more opportunities to go than I did when it was only in Japan.

So I started to set up my shot but then that guy who’s covering it saw me trying to look for my composition. I know I was taking taking my time but it may have been too long. Because when I first saw this scene, there was no one there! But that’s New York for you, there are people EVERYWHERE and at any given moment, one of them could walk right into you composition. Right when I was ready to click, there he was, in front of the green bunny. I could have waited to see if he would move but there were more people behind me on their way. Oh well. I still think it turned out pretty cool.

My settings for this image is F8 at 1/50th of a second at ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens. At first I was surprised that the shutter speed was so fast at ISO 400 on such a gloomy day, but then I realized it’s times square. It’s always so bright there so you really don’t need a high ISO to shoot fast. LOL.

I love New York. My friends ask me why I go so much, but there’s something about the city where you can be so anonymous and free to be who are that I love so much. Every turn is something new and exciting to see and you can never be bored. There’s a million and one things to do in the city and even more to eat. Which is probably reason #2 why I love going. The food is the bommmmmmb.

Over the weekend, Andrew and I took a short trip to the city. It was cold but so awesome to see all the christmas decorations and lights. We put our name down for dinner at an Italian restaurant and had an hour to kill so we figured we’d walk to Rockafeller Center to check out the Christmas Tree. You know that pre-dinner walk so you can fit more food into your belly? Anyways… Holy cow going on a Saturday night is not a good idea. It was so crowded, you could barely move. So once we made our way out of the crowd we somehow found ourselves on this closed off street in front of the Radio City Music Hall. I have no idea how I was able to get no people in this shot but I did. If you look at either side of the sidewalks you can see some people walking by but it really doesn’t depict just how many people were actually there. I don’t know how to express just how many people were there and how amazed I am for not getting any of them in this image. LOL. *pats self on back*

My camera settings for this image F4.0 at 1/13th of a second at ISO 1250 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

Ok, please be honest with me on this one. What do you think about this picture? It is so different from what I usually capture but as soon as I saw the scene, I really liked it.

To be honest, it’s so different for me that I’m kinda hesitant on posting it. I get those fears like ‘what if people don’t like it’ or ‘what if people don’t like me because they don’t like it’. That last one doesn’t make sense but it’s actually something I think about. Crazy, huh?

I captured this while we were walking off the Brooklyn Bridge. When we first got onto the bridge, we stopped at this stand to get water. So when we got back down, I knew he was still going to be there but I didn’t expect this awesome frame and the glow from the carts to show up.

It sort of reminds me of that movie ‘Sleepers’. Do you remember that one? It’s wayyyy back in the day. 1996! With a young Brad Pitt and a cute Brad Renfro. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a little disturbing. Andrew and I were talking about it a while back and for some reason decided to watch it again right before our trip. The movie is based in Hells Kitchen, NYC and there was a hot dog stand involved. That’s all I’m going to say. So when I saw this scene in real life, it reminded me of the movie. I’m not even sure if I’d recommend the movie. It depends on how old you are… but it’s a good one.

The settings for this image is 1/5th of a second at F5.0 and ISO 250. To capture it all in focus, I used the banister as my tripod. Luckily the hot dog vender or customer were not moving very much 🙂

When we first arrived in New York, Brooklyn Bridge Park was one of our first stops. We originally went to go get ice cream but ended up walking across the Brooklyn bridge. Kind of.

But I did not have a tripod with me. Andrew and I were just planning on taking it easy and not really do much that evening since we were both tired from travel. No problem at all. As long as I have my camera, charged batteries and my memory card, I’m down for whatever and not having a tripod pushed me to find creative ways around that. So as Andrew was finishing up my ice cream (they gave me wayyyy too much), I was trying to find different ways to keep my camera sturdy in this evening light. I took quite a few shots. Some from the ground, some from leaning against trees, etc. This image turned out to be my favorite composition.

If you look towards the left of this image on the pier, you can see how there’s a fence there, right? Well that same thing was going on right in front of me so I kneeled down and put my camera on the ground, in between the wood from the pier and the iron fence. So thats what the foreground texture is. The wood grain. I love how it turned out and how it’s so noticeable. I also think it adds a different element to the image having the bottom half so dark. For some reason it kind of reminds me of Gotham City from Batman.

The settings for this image is 1.6 seconds at F7/1 ISO 800 with my Sony A7II 16-35mm.

Have a great weekend everyone! Hope you all have something fun planned and if you do, let me know in the comments. Stay safe! I can’t believe September is almost over….

On the same day that I was looking down at times square, I was also looking up. I took this image about 30 minutes before that other one from the rooftop bar and I was actually on solid ground for this one. HAHA.

I’ve always wanted an image like this from times square. The buildings are just so massive all around you that I knew there was a way. For some reason, I’ve found it really difficult to capture in the past. I guess all I needed were just some dark cloudy skies and birds flying above me all at the right moment. Patiences is obviously key in photography. But I really like this image because it just feels like a big hug from the buildings. Everyone all at once, “awwwww”.

Without my 16-35mm wide angle lens, I would not have been able to capture all of it. But now that I’m looking at the image again, I wish I would have gotten lower to capture it. If I was kneeling down on the ground, I think I would have been able to capture much more of the buildings on the edges and maybe would have been able to fill in some of the spaces in between? Who knows. Either way, I’m happy with the way this one turned out. There was a fair amount of lens correcting that went into this. I also like how the cloudy skies give the buildings a mood of darkness. Usually when you visit times square, all you see are the lights. It’s like a totally different view.

Which makes me think, if I didn’t tell you that this was times square, would you have been able to guess the location?

My camera settings for this image are F/8 at 1/60th of a second ISO 400.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was taking our dog, Frankie on walks to different places in the city. This was taken on our second to last day. It was extra cloudy with a little bit of wind but so nice and comfortable to be outside. We made our way to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade but we parked our car just above it. What a cute little neighborhood. I’m sorry I don’t know the name but it looked just like the houses did in the Cosby Show. Wasn’t that based in Brooklyn too?

Anyways, it was Andrew and I’s goal to take pictures of Frankie with different landmarks behind him. So obviously, we had to take a picture of him with the Manhattan skyline in the back. He’s balancing on a bike share stand and looks thrilled, doesn’t he? HAHA He’s such a good boy but for some reason, he gets scared to jump off of things. Even when we’re home, he doesn’t like jumping off the couch or bed, so he has to be brought up onto furniture if he wants gets on it. That’s the only way he’s guaranteed a way down.He won’t jump up on his own. So we knew if we put him up on this bike stand, he would not jump. He’d just stand there for as long as we’d let him. LOL.

Whenever I look at this picture, I just smile. I’d love to take him on my trips. Don’t you think he’d look awesome next to the faces at Mount Rushmore. HAHAHA. Crazy dog mom? Maybe… But look at him. He loves it!

My settings for this image was F/5.6 at 1/320th of a second ISO 200. No tripod or anything. Just love.

Have a great weekend everyone! That week was short!