ANGELA B. PAN

I live within walking distance to a metro station but that doesn’t mean I ride it very often. If I had to estimate it, I probably ride it about 3-4 times a year. Once for DC fireworks for the 4th of July and then all the other times will be for random events where the roads are closed in the city or if we have a lot of snow and I want to capture it all. Otherwise, I will rather be driving.

Recently I had to ride the metro and get off at the Federal Triangle station. This was my first time taking the metro to this station and it was a long enough ride that I had to find a bathroom almost immediately after I got off. So I ended up wandering around a little bit and found this great walkway. It was especially nice in the mid-morning light as it was coming through the columns and casting these great shadows. I waited around just enough to capture these two people walking. I made sure to capture them while they were in the light and that you could see their own shadows along the wall. I love the way this turned out with so much repetition going on. This would probably be cool at night when the lights above are turned on.

My camera settings for this image are F6.3 at 1/1250th sec and ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

Going through some old images, I found a couple of interesting images from my visit to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum back in 2017. Growing up in the Washington DC area, this museum was one of those that had a huge impact on me. I may have been too young, but I just remember being so scared of this museum. I think at that age, I probably did not know how to communicate what I was feeling and all those feelings just turned into fear. Ever since then, I sort of avoided the museum.

Fast forward to 2017 and growing up to be an adult, I can now appreciate the museum. If we’re just looking at it from an architectural standpoint, it is beautiful and so unique. My favorite are all the skylights in the entrance of the museum that lights up the main hallway.

From an educational standpoint, I think this museum does an amazing job of showing just how horrible this period of time was. There are so many images and artifacts that it’s difficult to leave the museum unscathed. So if you do plan on going, be warned that you won’t leave the same person.

My camera settings for this image are F6.3 at 1/500th sec and ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm.

Last week I mentioned that I got to visit the cat cafe in Georgetown DC. I was so excited about the event that I showed up early. Like so embarrassingly early that I won’t mention even mention how early I actually got there. So with a camera in hand, I decided I’d try to walk around and see if I could find any cool images of the city.

Right around the corner from the cat cafe is the Georgetown theatre. I love neon signs so I tried my best to find a way to reflect this one. As I was walking closer to the sign, I noticed this car reflecting it so well. I bent down a little bit to see what other kinds of reflections I could get and was surprised to see it almost fan out. I then decided that it would be more interesting if there was one more element in the image. I waited for some cars to pass or even a bicycle but it took a while. Finally, a pedestrian walked past and I was able to capture this. I think it’s so interesting the way that it turned out, I don’t even mind that some of the lights went out in the sign.

My camera settings for this image are F8 at 1/60th sec and ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide-angle lens.

If you asked me last year about places I still wanted to photograph in Washington DC, the Watergate complex would have been last on my list. I just didn’t know anything about it or have seen any pictures of it that would draw me to this little area of DC. Luckily I have friends like Zack, who is very detailed orientated and likes to plan a lot of different kinds of photo locations.

So earlier this year when we were getting a group of photographers together for a small photo walk, he was the one who suggested a route that involved the Watergate. At first, I thought he meant the hotel, so when we arrived at this apartment complex I was blown away by how cool it was. I love the checkered flooring in the center. I bet this would look really cool from above. If only drones are allowed in DC…

Now that I know about this apartment complex, I would love to come back and photograph it even more. The architecture is just really cool.

Side note: Yesterday I left DC to travel to Taiwan with my family to visit my Grandfather. It’s been a few years since I’ve been back so I’m looking forward to spending time in Taipei. I have so many great memories in the capital city, so if you’re interested in tagging along, follow me on Instagram where I’ll be posting on my stories.

My camera settings for this image are F4 at 1/640th sec and ISO 400 with my Sony A7Ii and 70-200mm zoom lens.

This image may be my favorite in the series I captured at Rock Creek Park. I like it because of how monochromatic yellow it is. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know I love those monochrome colored looks.

You may also know that I enjoy going out with other photographers to take pictures too. But once in a while, I find so much peace going out on my own. Especially in Rock Creek Park, a place I am not too familiar with, I loved exploring the area and finding little corners like this. However, this was one time I wish I was out with another person. I think this would have been really cool if there was a person standing there with an umbrella or something. Oh well, there’s always next time.

My camera settings for this image are F6.3 at 1/13th sec and ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm.

Just a short drive from Boulder Bridge is Rapids Bridge in Rock Creek Park. You could technically walk, but I wore the wrong shoes and decided to drive instead. Next time I go to Rock Creek Park, I gotta wear my hiking shoes instead of rain boots. It had rained the night before I visited so I figured the ground was going to be wet. But I should have known that I would have wanted to climb up rocks and things so that’s when the hiking boots would have been the better idea. Anything for the shot, right?

So I was extra careful when I was making my way to this spot. I had to jump across a few rocks in order to get to a big one in the middle of the river. From the picture, it doesn’t really look like it because you can see land straight ahead but I swear, I was on a rock in the water. LOL.

At this point, I left my tripod in the car. I didn’t want to have anything in my hands that would throw me off balance and I knew that I wanted to get a low angle where the majority of the image would be of the water. So I sat on this rock and used it to help keep the camera steady. At that point, I made the mental note to wear waterproof pants next time I shoot Rock Creek as well. LOL.

My camera settings for this image are F13 at 1/3 sec and ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide-angle.