ANGELA B. PAN

Every year during this time of the year, I like to go back through my images that I’ve captured and pull them together for a ‘best of’ post. I capture so many images in a year that it can be a little difficult to narrow them down so I like to divide it them into two days, one for travel and one for just Washington DC images.

This image did not make the cut but it reminds me of one of the more memorable trips of the year. My trip to Aruba with all my girlfriends. It was so much fun to have that girl time and to spend a long weekend at the beach. I stayed in a room with my friend, Sue. It was perfect because we both just naturally wake up early and she is very patient with me when I want to stop a million times on the way to breakfast just to take pictures. She’s patient because she’s probably taking a million pictures too. LOL.

This image was taken on our last day. Sue and our friend, Neena woke up in the morning to get breakfast and do some last minute souvenir shopping for our loved ones back home. Andrew’s always the easiest person to shop for because he doesn’t necessarily want any of the touristy stuff you can get. I usually just go to a local grocery store or convenience store and buy a whole bunch of different snacks and treats that we don’t have back home but look interesting to try. We have a good time trying them together. So while I was waiting for Sue and Neena to shop, I saw this rooster just walking around. I loved the colors behind him so I took a quick shot before he ran away.

My camera settings for this image is F7.1 at 1/500th sec and ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom.

Is it me or is today the hardest day to get anythingggg done. Holiday hangoverrrr. Last night we celebrated Christmas with Andrew’s family and it was so fun. I made christmas cookies. LOL. My family is celebrating this weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing my nephews. I see them every week but still…

Hope you all got some fun photo goodies for the holidays.

This image was taken in the summertime. I remember capturing this particular sunrise so clearly because it was from one of those days that the Tidal Basin had been crazy flooded. But this day was probably the most water I had ever seen. My jaw dropped when I walked down there because it was above the park bench seats. It was so easy to capture reflections like this because there was just so much water. I have definietly made it a habit to wear rain boots whenever I visit the basin. Even if there hasn’t been any rain for days, you just never know now and it’s a sad.

My favorite part about this image is the cloud formations. I love the way it’s framing the Washington Monument and it looks so good in the water reflection. It makes me want to go back to that summer time weather. And don’t even get me started on those summertime colors. I love the transition from orange to blue.

Actually the last time I was at the Tidal Basin (earlier this month), the sidewalk was blocked off. There was no sign or postage saying why, so let’s hope something is actually being done about all this water and flooding. It can’t be good for the cherry blossoms.

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/640th sec and ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

Shout out to Oregon for this year’s US Capitol Christmas tree! It’s stunning!

This isn’t my first time capturing the US Capitol Christmas tree but as I was capturing it this year, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful it is. Maybe I’m just older and feel like I appreciate the holidays more or something but I really enjoyed just walking around and finding the different angles.

A few weeks ago, I woke up for sunrise and made my way over to the US Capitol. I started off at the usual reflecting pool spot but saw a few other photographers there. For some reason something clicked in my head that I didn’t want to stay there and figured it would be better if I walked around a bit. I made my way all around the front of the Capitol. I was trying to find different angles but for some reason the tree itself was blocked off. I couldn’t get down to the grass where the tree was. The US Capitol police must block it off sometime in the middle of the night because I know I’ve been close to the tree before. Weird…

But I love the way this turned out. Mostly because I like the way the branches are just sticking out. I don’t know, I find it cute and it makes me smile. Hope this image makes you smile and brings you a little holiday cheer today. Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate. Wishing you all the best this holiday season.

I’ll be with family all day today and most looking forward to watching all my nieces and nephews open their christmas presents. It’s the best watching them so happy 🙂

My camera settings for this image is F4.0 at 1/640th sec at ISO 2500 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

Last week I found myself at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Usually when I wake up for sunrise, I don’t have a real plan of where I’m going to go. I just go where the wind takes me but on this particular day as soon as I parked my car, I knew exactly where I was going. It was around this time 6 years ago when I captured this image of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I’ve always wanted to go back when the wreaths are laid and I knew that this was my chance.

Unfortunately, I did not get the same light as I did 6 years ago but the wreaths were beautiful. You can’t help but feel thankful for all the names on this wall and their sacrifice. Then it led me to think about our current military and how some of them aren’t able to be home for the holidays. Even some our neighbors who have to work around the clock, just to serve like doctors, nurses, even postal workers. Thank you all so much.

In order to capture this image differently, I tried a new perspective. I basically placed my camera on the ground and wanted to get a nice line of wreaths in the shot. I like the way that it turned out but I can’t help staring at the reflections of the trees behind them on the wall. I love how they look so small and I think this is a real interesting point of view.

I’m not sure how long these wreaths stay at the memorial or even Arlington Cemetery. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to photograph them again in more light.

Thanks again to all those who serve and happy holidays to everyone.

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 0.3 sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom

When we booked our hotel I knew the rooftop views were going to be epic, but I didn’t know how good they would be. Here was the view when you walked straight out onto the patio. As soon as we walked out there, my jaw dropped. I loved being able to see so much for the skyline but then I turned to the side and saw this. So cool right? A birds eye view of the Manhattan bridge.

After our first trip to the rooftop, Andrew and I decided to just walk around the city and get some food to eat and run a few errands. We found ourselves all the way up midtown and was shocked by how many people we saw. Somehow we ended up really close to Rockefeller center and literally stood in the same spot for like 10 minutes because there were just so many people. There was no flow of traffic and we were just stuck. Even with police there, no one was moving. It was kind of insane but the best part was this guy in front of me who screamed “ok, who just slapped my ass”. LOL.

Needless to say once we got back to the hotel, we were tired. But I wanted to go back up to the rooftop one more time. I really didn’t want to. The bed was calling my name, but I knew that it was the only opportunity I was going to get.

It was a little awkward walking back to the rooftop. By that time, it was basically a club with everyone all dressed up. I was still in my sneakers and winter coat. Oh well. Anything for the shot, right?

My camera settings for this image is F6.3 at 0.8 sec at ISO 1250 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle.

I’ve been noticing a trend lately. A trend just between Andrew and I that we’ll agree that we’ll travel somewhere or go somewhere fun and then I have to do all the work. Like pick the travel itinerary, hotel, etc etc etc. But I’m not even mad about it because that means I have full control over everything. LOL. So when we decided we were going to go to New York for his birthday, I was on the hunt for a great hotel.

We used to only stay in Starwood hotels. At one point of time I had so many points on our SPG Preferred Member account that we used to stay in hotels for free all the time. Unfortunately, all those points have gone away so we were debating whether or not we wanted to stay with them this time. We figured staying in a new neighborhood and change of scenery would be nice and let us get to know a different part of New York. So I found this great place in Chinatown for us to stay.

The room was nice and everything but the best part was the rooftop. As soon as we put our stuff down in the room, I grabbed my camera and I was ready to go all the way up. Since the sunset is earlier in the day for winter and it was a cloudy day overall, I knew I had to get up there as soon as possible if I wanted to get a “day time shot”.  The lighting was a bit difficult to work with. I actually re-edited this image 6 or 7 times before I finally came up with something I liked.

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/100th sec and ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.