ANGELA B. PAN

Throwback Thursday! This one was taken earlier this year a little bit after I took this image. I LOVE foggy mornings. Although it’s the same subject, taken around the same time, theres two totally different vibes. Mornings like these are so special, especially around the DC area because you never really think we get them. You know, you always associate fog to San Francisco or places like that. But here on the east coast, we can get some pretty awesome foggy mornings too! It’s my absolute favorite weather condition to shoot in. I think its so fun to see how it interacts with the monuments. For example, this was a crazy foggy day too and this was a 70 degree foggy christmas morning! It creates a totally new perspective on our environment and I love how it just minimizes everything.

If it’s lingering fog, I really like to take my time and walk around most of the monuments. What I’m looking out for are the shapes and lines that are peaking through the mist. This image was taken while I was walking along Kutz Bridge. It’s a great spot to go to during cherry blossom season or to take pictures in general. I was drawn to it because of the outlining of the trees and the little spurts of lights created by the street lights and cars. Theres just something so simple about it. I’m sure if I took this same exact composition on a regular sunny day, it would look totally different. There would be so much going on that you don’t really know where to focus your attention. At least for this foggy image, it’s obvious that its all about the trees and the reflection coming from the water.

Anyways, that was my little rant about fog. What about you? What’s your favorite weather to experience?

Before the National Museum of African American History and Culture opened, the National Museum of American Indian used to be the museum in Washington DC that was rated with the best food. It is also the only reason why I’d ever been to the museum. For the food. Try the fry bread! Yummm.

But over the weekend last week, Andrew and I found ourselves in the city with some time to kill. Luckily, I’ve started to get into this habit where I’ll bring my camera wherever I go. I used to leave it home and only take it out whenever I knew I was shooting. Lately, I’ll take it out whenever I know I’ll be out of the house for a while. You never know when a photo opportunity will hit! So I had my camera in hand and we headed over to the National Mall. By luck would have it, the parking spot we found was closest to the National Museum of American Indian, so we decided to go in.

Man, was I really missing out by heading straight to the cafeteria and not looking around. The architecture inside and out is beautiful and the exhibits were interesting. We didn’t get to see it all but enough so that I’d want to come back and spend more time here. I feel like a majority of the time, I was just looking up. I was excited to go to the top floor and check out what the ceiling looked like from every level. Is that weird? It sort of reminds me so much of the New York City Oculus.

Anyways, if this was brand new to me, I’m sure there are many more interiors that I’m missing out on in DC. Looking forward to checking out more. If you have any recommendations, let me know!

I’ve been uploading so many travel photos lately that I’ve been missing DC pics. No matter what, I always love shooting this city. Some people can say they get sick of shooting the same place over and over again but I don’t. It’s always looks and feels so different anytime you go. I don’t think I could ever really get tired of it.

This was taken while walking around the Tidal Basin. It was early morning, probably an hour after the sun had risen and the light was hitting these leaves perfectly. I think my favorite part of the image is the reflection of the Washington Monument in the Tidal Basin. It makes it look so long and exaggerated. Funny story is, this was actually influenced by a picture I saw at my doctors office.

I was just going in for a physical when they brought me into a little room to get my weight and my blood pressure. There was a photograph of a similar scene but taken during cherry blossom season and there was a lot more going around on top and around the monument. But I couldn’t stop staring at the reflection of the Washington Monument. I thought it was the coolest part of the image when I’m usually all crazy about cherry blossoms. I guess seeing another person’s work made me see the Washington Monument in a totally different way. It was exciting. I immediately went home to see if I had I something similar to the reflection that i saw in my doctor’s office. and I did! I took this one last year around this time. I never noticed the reflection until that doctors visit. LOL. I totally would have dismissed this picture before but i really like it. It feels like home to me <3

Over the weekend I was excited to visit the Artechouse. A brand new exhibition space in southwest DC with this really cool interactive art exhibit called XYZT: Abstract Landscapes. If I had to describe it, I’d say it was more like a playground for light. For example, this wall that I’m standing in front of is all black. But when you wave your hand or body in front of it, it turns white wherever the sensors pick up your motion. In reality, I had my back turned to the camera, waved my arms around for a little bit and then turned to my profile so that this image could be taken with the white shown behind my head. We did this a few times. Some of the attempts went horribly bad, but that’s the fun of it LOL.

Other parts of the exhibit included some light fun on the floor where you can walk and lines of light would turn into what looked like splashes of water or prickly cactuses. I think out of all of the different experiences our favorites was the enclosed space in the very back. There were all these random letters floating everywhere on a clear wall and if you did a motion like you were opening curtains, then all the letters would fly away. It was very cool and very matrix-like if that makes any sense at all.

So if you’re planning on visiting, I’d go soon. It’s only a temporary exhibit until the fall. Then I’m sure something another else equally as awesome will take it’s place.

The whole space itself was really dark so my camera settings for this image was ISO 5000 f/3.5 at 1/250th of a second.

PS. Happy Fry Day! My favorite food holiday. You already know it’s been marked in my calendar for some time now and what I’ll be eating alllllll day today 🙂

So grateful that yesterday’s Independence Day fireworks were so awesome! The forecast had called for 40% rain showers but you would have never known it. The weather was perfect. It wasn’t too hot that it was unbearable to stand outside and sitting under a tree made for a nice breeze. Luckily the clouds weren’t so heavy and dark this time that the fireworks were really able to shine.

My friends Jim and Rosa joined Andrew and I in capturing the fireworks. We ended up at the US Capitol which I had never thought of shooting from before. It turned out awesome because they were having their own concert there and John Stamos (Uncle Jesse) was the host! I was singing and dancing up until the big show. Then while the fireworks were going off, they had even more performances going on. It was a little distracting because I didn’t know what to look at, the performance or the fireworks, but overall it was a blast!

At first I was a little disappointed with how many people were in front of us for the pictures. But taking a moment to really think about what I wanted the end product to look like, I think it worked to my favor. It’s a totally different view of the fireworks than I’ve ever captured before and I think it’s an accurate depiction of what it’s like shooting on July 4th in DC. Crowds of people, a big production, and everyone having a good time. I really like how you can see the fireworks in 4 different places in this image. Can you spot them all?

But lesson learned. If I ever shoot at the US Capitol again, go early. Same goes for all the Lincoln Memorial which I might try to go to next year. The angle from that memorial looks beautiful!

Happy  Independence day! Hope you all have a great 4th of July full of fun, family and fireworks 🙂

This image was taken last year before the National Museum of African American History and Culture was opened. It was amazing! My friend, Jim (who I used to intern for at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum) and I were the only ones inside the fence taking pictures. So I’m pretty sure that means we’ll be the only two people EVER with an image like this. With no one in the shot with 4th of July fireworks with the museum and Washington Monument standing side-by-side. Pretty awesome, huh? But I do remember how gloomy and cloudy the day was. The whole day called for rain and we got little pockets here and there. I remember thinking that they may totally call off the fireworks since the clouds were so dark and heavy. Luckily, they went off as planned. But unfortunately again, we weren’t able to see the ones that went really high in the sky. We could only hear them. The clouds were so dark that you couldn’t even see the color in them from the firecrackers. We could only see some of the lower hanging ones. Oh well. I still think this turned out pretty amazingly. But a cool effect that happened from all that rain that I didn’t expect were the reflections in the walkways. I purposely got down lower so I could really highlight the reflectiveness of the ground.

I’ll be out taking fireworks images again this year at the National Mall. I’m really looking forward to it. Its like 20 minutes of pure excitement. So if you need any tips on how to shoot fireworks, check out this video I created 4 years ago. All the rules still apply:

Happy shooting and be safe!