ANGELA B. PAN

It seems like everyday this summer has either been super hot and humid or super rainy, right? There hasn’t really been an in between in a while. This image was actually taken on one of those rainy days. It rained the night before and it rained right after this image was captured so I was really surprised when color actually came through the clouds during this sunrise. And as a side note super lucky that I left the Reflecting Pool right before it started pouring. The whole morning was really dark so I love the way the pink and purple hues brought out the contrast.

Now that I have my 70-200mm, I’ve been challenging myself to keep the lens on my camera without switching to one of my defaults.  It’s actually a lot harder than it sounds but I think it’s really interesting how subjects that I photograph all the time seem so different. I’ve always talked about getting really low or getting high could help make things look different. Well, getting a new lens can do the exact same thing. I captured this image at focal length 112mm.

Besides the color and the reflection, my favorite part about this image are the ducks. I always get so happy to see them, especially in the summer time. There seems to be new baby ducks all the time. Of course they could be the same ducks that I’m seeing over and over again, but they’re just so tiny that I can’t even imagine being more than a few weeks old.

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/60th of a second and ISO 1600 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm. The reason the ISO is up so high is because this image was captured handheld.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Taken on the same day as this image and this image, I figured a little #tbt would be fun.

It was the second day of spring and we got our first real snow all season. All the weather-people in the area were calling for 2-4 inches and I went to bed really excited expecting to wake up to snow. I got up, looked out the window and I remember being disappointed because there was nothing. Not even a drop. To be honest, I went back to sleep. HAHA. And the second time I woke up it was snowing! I was so excited, I immediately put on 3 layers of clothing and headed straight to the Metro. Luckily, I live walking distance to the metro cuz I rather do that then deal with the cars on the road. At least that way I can listen to some music and relax on my way into the city.

I spent most of the morning walking around the US Capitol. The original intention was to go looking for cherry blossoms but there was something about the white snow on the white building that really captured my attention. If you’re familiar with the US Capitol, then you’ll know that these are the steps that lead down to the visitor center. I love how the white snow simplified everything and all that you can see are the lines from the steps, trees and the person walking down with an umbrella. A pretty interesting composition that I am so glad I was able to capture.

My camera settings for this image is F11 at 1/320th of a second at ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm lens. For those of you wondering, I had no issues with my camera in the snow. To be honest, I don’t even remember changing my batteries… which seems a bit odd. Especially for the A7II

As you’re reading this, I’m on a plane to Aruba with my closest girlfriends! I can not waitttt to do nothing but lay out on the beach and get a tan. But you know that will only last for 30 minutes before I bust out with the GoPro! or even my drone.

I’m also really looking forward to seeing the flamingos! If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you’ll know how I feel about birds. But I feel like flamingos are kinda different. First of all, they’re pink <3 Plus I feel like they’re so slow moving that if they wanted to attack you, you have time to run away and I can’t imagine those stick legs being that fast. Which leads to my question… do flamingos fly? Either way, I love the combo of pink feathers with blue water. But I may be sticking with my new 70-200mm to capture it all. Can’t get too close now. LOL.

This image was taken earlier this year in San Diego. I thought it was appropriate since theres an airplane flying over palm trees. I captured it one day after Andrew and I left the Little Italy farmer’s market and needed to go somewhere to walk off all the food we just ate. We ended up by the marina. I think my favorite part about this image is the big open space on top. It make everything seem so small, especially the palm trees. There was only a quick moment to capture it and I’m glad I was able to pull it off 🙂

So if you’ve been to Aruba, let me know what’s fun. Places to go or places to eat.

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/1000th of a second ISO 250 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm zoom lens.

I’ve been going through my old travel photos a lot lately. Not sure if you can tell 🙂 This one was taken last year in Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, Colorado. It was my first time visiting the state and I seriously fell in love. This image has been sitting my desktop for a little while now just waiting for me to edit it. I don’t usually keep raw images on my desktop like that, but this one was different. I didn’t want loose it in the thousands of other photos I have from this trip. I even have an image similar to this that I posted last year, but I think I may like this one better. It definietly gives more depth and has far more interesting lines to look at. What do you think?

In other news, I’ve been listening to Creative Quest by Questlove on Audible. You may know him as the drummer of The Roots and the Tonight Show band. First of all, he narrates his own book which I love. I feel like it gives it such a personal touch. I also think it’s really cool how when he references a song in the book, they’ll play it in the background. Definietly one advantage over reading the actual book. I’m not all the way done with it yet. I’ve been slowly listening to it every time I’m driving in the car or if I’m out taking pictures but I can say I have a great appreciation for him and his art. He questions his own creative talents which I thought was very interesting and relatable. I love how he has so many interests in different kinds of art too. The most obvious is music but he also mentions his love for the culinary, comedic, and visual art. Whether you like it or not, I’ll probably write a book review about it once I’m done like I do many of the other books I listen to. Its definietly a thought provoking book but I think anyone who’s interested in hearing other people’s ideas about creativity should definietly listen to it. Just putting it out there!

My camera settings for this image is F9 at 1/80th of a second and ISO 125 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens. No tripod. Just used the log as a stabilizer to capture it and to make the depth look even more dramatic.

Last week, I had THE best rooftop experiences O F M Y L I F E !

Thank you so much to Albert for inviting me to Rosslyn, Virginia where they were holding a cocktail reception celebrating Rosslyn’s newest development Central Place. Central place is a high-rise apartment building and its absolutely GORGEOUS. Inside and out. For the most part we were on the 6th floor lounge area enjoying the cocktails when around sunset Albert, Anna, Lindsey and I asked if we could be escorted upstairs to one of the top levels. This is the view from the 26th floor lounge. Yes! This apartment complex has 2 lounge areas, a pool with Miami FL vibes, and seems super dog friendly. All huge pluses for me.

My jaw dropped as soon as we went to the outdoor patio. Never in my LIFE have I seen a view with all four landmarks in one shot. It’s the Jefferson Memorial on the very right, the Lincoln, Washington Monument and then the Capitol in the back left side. It was absolutely breathtaking. I really just wanted to claim a little corner of that space and live there forever. I feel like I could watch this view from sunrise all the way to dawn.

Luckily we had some rain earlier in the day and the sun came out just in time to create these cotton candy skies. I’m pretty sure the camera gods knew I’d be taking pictures at the best view ever so I appreciate them looking out! Either way, I don’t think anyone could ever take a bad picture from this view point.

I’m also super happy that I had my 70-200mm with me. It was an amazing way to break in the new lens!

My camera settings for this image is F5.0 at 1/50th of a second ISO 400 on my Sony a7II handheld.

Now that our Caribbean vacation is just a few days away, I thought it’d be appropriate to post about Iceland. LOL. I don’t know what it is about Iceland that makes me want to keep going back. But I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who feels this way. Everyone who I know who’s been there has been more than once. I’ve been twice but I would like to go back asap.

1. because I still haven’t seen a great display of northern lights
2. because I still haven’t gone to the northern part of the island
3. Last time I was there, we tried to go into an ice cave but it got cancelled because of rain and I would LOVEEEEE to photograph one.
4. because every single corner of the island is amazing and so photogenic
5. I had the best smoked salmon of my life on my last trip and can’t wait to eat even more

The list goes on and on. Plus I didn’t even mention the horses! And you know me and fluffy cute animals. So hopefully I can make that happen asap. Or at least when I return from the beach 🙂

But this image was from my last trip to Iceland in the beginning of last year. I remember we weren’t planning on stopping here but ended up getting out of the car because it was so beautiful. It was pretty cool too because we were the only ones on this side of the beach. Everyone else was on the other side of the cliffs. I brought my tripod out with me so that I could get those silky smooth water with my neutral density filter. I loved the way it turned. This image was originally a horizontal image that I cropped to vertical. I think it’s much more dynamic this way.

My camera settings for this image is at F6.3 at 2 seconds and ISO 80 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.