ANGELA B. PAN

If you missed it, yesterday I announced the completion of Snap DC, Your Guide to Taking Extraordinary Photos of the National Mall and Beyond… Thank you all so much for your positive feedback and basically good vibes all around. It was like I was floating on a cloud all day. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s the blog post. But more importantly, here’s the page where you can sign up to get all the info, extras and even a preview of the first chapter of the book.

Within the first couple pages of the book you’ll see that I’ve dedicated the book to my grandma, Nai Nai. She passed away earlier this year but I know she would have been super proud of me for creating this book. I know I haven’t talked about it much but we found out she wasn’t doing well around Thanksgiving 2017. I spent a lot of days with her in the hospital and I would always bring my computer with me. I would work on Snap DC while she was resting. Remember that story I shared earlier this year about my love for flowers and my grandma saying “pretty”? We were in the hospital at that time looking through pages of the book. At that time they were just google drive pages on my phone but she is one of the first people to ever see it.

This image is not a part of the book. However it’s the image that I was working on when I found out the news of her passing. I find it symbolic to have been working on an image with the fog passing through the bridge as if it is her spirt was passing to her next life. This is exactly how I left it when I found out the news.

So Snap DC is dedicated to Nai Nai. I wish she could have seen the final product.

My camera settings for this image is F5.0 at 1/1250th of a second at ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm lens.

I have to admit that I have been keeping a secret from you. It wasn’t intentional, it just happened. But on August 8, 2017 (yes, I marked it in my calendar), I decided that I was going to write a book. Not a coffee table book or a picture book in any kind of way. I wanted this book to be useful and informative. I decided that I was going to write a book based on all the messages and emails that I receive with questions like where to go shoot in Washington, where should I park if I’m going to the Lincoln Memorial, when is the best time to go and photograph the US Capitol?

It’s finally done and it is called, Snap D.C. You can’t see me, but I have the biggest smile on my face right now. Trust me.

In reality, I feel like its our book. You were the inspiration behind the book and it was written with you in mind. Whether you are a Washington DC local or just visiting for the weekend, I didn’t hold anything back. I even have my camera settings and drawn out maps to help you even futher. Basically all the knowledge and experience I have gathered in the past couple of years of shooting in our nation’s capital all in one book for you to have. This book isn’t just for DSLR shooters either. You can use it as an aid for your mobile cameras as well.

The book will be released on Amazon as a paperback or kindle version on May 20th. Click here to signup for release updates, extras and you will even get a see a preview of the first chapter.

I can’t wait for you to read it! I really hope you feel inspired and motivated to get out there and shoot! Photographing Washington has brought me so much happiness and I want to pass that along to you. AHHHH!!!! SMILEY FACEEEEEEEEE

I try to go to events and things with no expectations. That way you won’t be disappointed when it doesn’t turn out the way you want. But I knew from the very beginning that Ball for the Mall was going to be an evening that would be hard to forget. In the end, Andrew and I had the best time ever.

I know my words won’t do it justice but the evening was magical. Andrew and I ubered to the Mall and as soon as we walked up to the tent, I saw one of my images greeting all the guests at the front door. If that was the only place my image was displayed, I would have been the happiest girl in the world. Before I could do anything else, I pulled out my phone so we could take pictures.

The event was held on 12th and Madison Dr, right in front of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The weather was absolutely perfect. I didn’t even need a jacket. Which was amazing because they also had an area blocked off for a special monument viewing station.

As Andrew describes it, the interior of the tents was as if it were a gallery showing of my work. There was a huge blown up piece behind the band, an ever bigger piece behind the bar and all throughout the dinner a slideshow of my work. Little signage and even printouts of my work made it feel even more special.

Obviously I had to take pictures of the delicious food we had. I really wish I had taken pictures of the appetizers that were being passed around. My favorite was this lobster bite drenched in butter. YUMMM.

In between speeches and dinner being served, I asked Andrew if we could sneak to the front of the venue to try to take some pictures of the displays without people around. Not sure how this even ended up happening but it is so awesome. LOL. The image behind me was definietly my favorite out of all the ones that were displayed.

Thank you so so much, Trust for the National Mall for an unbelievable evening. It’s something that I’m going to treasure for a long, long time. It was an absolute honor to be there and an even bigger honor to have had my work featured at such a spectacular event. Thank you xoxo

So yesterday was one of the best days ever! I’m still trying to comedown from the high.  Andrew and I attended the Ball for the Mall and it was the most beautiful, exciting, and inspiring evening ever. Thanks again to the Trust of the National Mall for the invitation and using my images throughout the entire event. Everything was absolutely incredible. Promise I’ll share some images from the evening soon. I’m still trying to gather all my thoughts about the night.

In the meaning time, here’s a pretty picture of the cherry blossoms 🙂 LOL. Like I said yesterday, I didn’t create too many images with the Jefferson Memorial and the cherry blossoms this year. I feel like it’s been done so many times that it’s difficult to make it different. So on that same day that I managed to shoot with very low battery, I grabbed this image. Initially it was the sun burst that caught my attention, but I’m a sucker for using the cherry trees to frame subjects. My favorite is the light that’s coming through the flowers. Doesn’t it make you feel all warm inside?

This is why we need to help preserve the National Mall and other national parks across the country. So that people can appreciate beautiful scenes like this forever and ever. Government funding only goes so far. We need additional resources that will help keep the cherry blossom trees healthy and all of our monuments and memorials safe and clean. The National Mall is a unique national park because it’s located within a city. We get so much foot traffic that eventually things are going to wear and tear. Please click here to find out how you can help.

My camera settings for this image is F22 at 1/100th of a second at ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 27-70mm handheld. 

Ok, back to more cherry blossoms images 🙂

Another one of my goals this season was to capture the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial with the cherry blossoms. If I was going to be at the Tidal Basin, I wanted to try different things from what I typically do. Going back and looking at my images, I barely have any of the Jefferson Memorial and the cherry blossoms. So weird, right? Last year they were like peanut butter and jelly. This year it was like the Jefferson Memorial didn’t even show up to the party.

I also realized that I don’t have very many images of the Martin Luther King Jr memorial in general, let alone with the cherry blossoms. So anytime I was close or even from far away, I was trying out different compositions. I was determined to get something I liked.

This one was taken about 30 minute before sunrise. As you can see, another windy morning but I love the color combination of the pink flowers with the blueish looking sky. We got real lucky this year. We had almost two solid weeks of cherry blossoms, compared to last year when we didn’t even have a week. So I had time to play with compositions. I still haven’t gone through all the images yet, but this one stood out to me. I like how he still looks very powerful and determined with the cherry blossom framing him. Like nothing can distract him, not even pretty flowers. On the other hand, I’m the one who’s driving around and will break for pretty flowers growing in people’s yards and point them out to all my passengers. Ask Andrew. He’s not a fan of when I do that. LOL

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 0.6 seconds and ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm lens on my gitzo tripod.

Special Announcement! I’m hosting my very first photowalk and I’m so excited!!!

It’s happening on Saturday June 9th at 5:20a meeting at the Lincoln Memorial. Mark yo calendars. Super early, I know, but it will be so fun. I’m teaming up with the Focus on the Story International Photo Festival for a super cool Saturday morning. Don’t quote me on this but I heard they’re bringing Krispe Kremes too. So what could be better than the National Mall, sunrise, donuts and ME?! LOL.

Click here to sign up for the free event. And while you’re at it, check out some of the other events that will be going on that weekend. I’ve signed up for a couple myself and really looking forward to learning from other photographers.

This image was taken in August 2016 but I still remember the details of taking it. It was a super humid summer evening and we were expecting thunderstorms that night. So with weather conditions like that, I thought the sunset would be super colorful. It was, but only along the bottom of the sky, right above the horizon. So I decided to crop the top part and focus more on the water ripples. I don’t know if this image would have been as successful as it is without the water because I think the best part of it was catching the color reflection. It makes it seem a lot more colorful and dramatic than it really was. The most interesting part to me is that little line that flows down the center left hand side of the reflecting pool. I love the way that it bounces from one side to another so subtly.

So that’s our meeting spot! The Lincoln Memorial! Don’t forget to register for the sunrise photowalk and see ya there!

My camera settings for this image is F6.3 at 1/10th of a second at ISO 250 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm lens.