blue hour

All photos available for print and licensing >

It’s been a while since I’ve had an update blog post. Mostly because I didn’t have much to update on. However, I was going through my catalog the other day and realized I have some images that I wanted to share!

Since coming back from New Hampshire, I tried my best to capture the fall colors around the Washington DC area. Even though Washington DC is a city, there are still some great places to go to see fall colors! All the different shades of red, yellow, and orange make me so happy. So this is a compilation of the images I’ve created from mid-October to the very end of November.

Shenandoah Sunrise

It was my friend, Larry and I’s 4th year anniversary of capturing the sunrise in Shenandoah National Park in the autumn time. I love this tradition. Mostly because it’s fun to reminisce on our friendship. Each year we go has been extremely different. But there has always been one thing in common, awesome fall colors!

This time around, we were lucky to get some fog. It was crazy because the entire time we were driving to and from Shenandoah, there was a lot of fog. So when we got to the top of the mountain, it was really cool to see it from above. They kind of look like spider webs!

Mt Vernon Trail Sunrise

Click here to read more

All photos available for print and licensing >

As I mentioned in my last post, Andrew and I circled the Vessel as we were climbing up. I really liked doing this since you get such different views on almost every edge you’re standing on.

I know a lot of people may concentrate on photographing the interior and what that looks like, but I thought the outside of the Vessel looked really cool too. This was taken along the side that was closer to the Shops and Restaurants at Hudson Yards. Some chairs and a few tables had been put out. I’m not sure if it was for dining or letting people sit and relax a bit, but I loved the way the orange popped against the grey cement. This image sort of reminds me of a drone shot and I like looking at the different people and seeing how they are interacting with the space.

Now that I think of it, Andrew and I were sitting around here for a little bit before we entered the Vessel ourselves. So if someone took a similar shot of this while we were sitting there, you would have seen Andrew and I look at our phones for a place to eat dinner after we were done with the Vessel and eating the chocolates we bought on our walk over. LOL. Dessert before dinner, am I right? And then more dessert after dinner 🙂

My camera settings for this image are F5.6 at 1/25th sec and ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom.

All photos available for print and licensing >

After a weekend in New York, the newly constructed Vessel in Hudson Yards was a highlight of the entire trip.

This was my first visit to the Big Apple since it has been constructed and I knew that I had to visit. I have seen many images of the Vessel on instagram that I kind of had an idea what to expect but believe me when I say it’s much better in person than in the pictures. So if you haven’t been, I highly suggest booking a trip to New York now. You can click here to get free tickets.

But for some reason, I had the impression that some of these staircases were escalators. That was wrong. LOL. But if you take your time climbing each story at a time, it’s not so bad. Andrew and I circled the whole structure as we were climbing to the top which provided new views all along the way. Luckily we were able to get our tickets for around sunset so we stayed a little bit after the sun had gone down to see what the Vessel looked like at night. It’s pretty cool at blue hour if you asked me. Luckily, they regulate how many people come into the Vessel at one time but they won’t kick you out. You get to stay for as long as you would like.

My camera settings for this image are F5.6 at 1/5th sec and ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

All photos available for print and licensing >

As mentioned a few weeks ago, I went somewhere that I’ve been wanting to go to for FOREVER! The President Heads in Williamsburg, Virginia! I’ve been seeing images of these busts for years but never had the opportunity to visit.

Actually, I take that back. About 2 years ago, Andrew, Frankie and I actually drove down to Williamsburg for the weekend and tried to look for them. At that time, the address was very vague and every time I tried googling them, the address would lead us to the middle of nowhere. We would drive back and forth on the highway and just around the general vicinity of Croaker, VA but never found it. We ended up giving up and just spent the weekend hanging out. At that point, I was sure I wouldn’t see them.

But it wasn’t until my friend, Jeremy posted images from the President Head last month and said that he was on a photo tour that really sparked my interest in them again. So in case you’re interested in seeing them, click here for the event details. We signed up for the sunset and night tour which I’d highly recommend.

Since I’ll be in Oregon this whole week, I figured I’d post images from this event this entire week. Hope you don’t mind 🙂

My camera settings for this image is F5 at 1/13th sec and ISO 800 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide-angle lens.

All photos available for print and licensing >

And this is what it looks like when lightning strikes behind the clouds. I love the glow the clouds are giving off in this image. So much so that it’s kind of hard for me to say if I like this image better or the one I took of the actual lightning strike. There’s something about seeing all the definition in the clouds that I can’t stop looking at. Plus it’s incredible how much light actually comes from lightning. *trying my best not to reference Grease Lightning*

Let me know in the comments which one you prefer.

In other news, Andrew and I are headed to Oregon next week. I can’t wait. It’s our first times visiting and I’m really looking forward to spending time exploring the Pacific Northwest. You should see my google map. It’s filled with pins. Is it me or does it seem like everywhere you turn is another waterfall in Oregon? While I was doing some photo research, I read that someone called it the “Iceland of America”. I giggled but also really hope it’s true.

I also discovered that Oregon seems super dog-friendly. Out of all the places I was interested in going, Crater Lake National Park is the only place that dogs aren’t allowed to go. So with that in mind, Frankie’s coming on the trip with us too! I can’t wait to go on hikes with him and run on the beach. Don’t worry though, we bought a backpack for when he gets tired on the hikes 🙂 Can’t wait!!

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/5th sec and ISO 2000 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide-angle lens with my tripod.

All photos available for print and licensing >

This was totally an experiment but I really like the way it turned out. The car trails are so dynamic that I kinda wish that I captured it horizontally, instead of vertically. That way they would have taken up more space in the image but I had no idea how cool it was going to be.

I captured this on a Friday morning so luckily there were quite a few cars driving around at 5:30a. I saw a whole line of them waiting to turn so I propped my camera down and just waited for the green light. I didn’t spend much time trying to capture other exposures but this was definietly the best one. The key was to wait for them to turn and drive past you while standing in the median. But I think one of the coolest parts about this image is that you can see the red, yellow and green lights.

Looking at it again, I already have new ideas of how I could improve upon this image. That’s one of my favorite parts about daily blogging. It constantly pushes me to create new images and talk about them once they are complete. Even if I’m not totally happy with them, I see each of these posts as kind like a sketch book where I can go back and see some of my older images and improve. But OMG, googling my images from years ago, like 5 or even 7 years ago. My images have changed sooo much. It’s kind of funny (but also hurts my eyes in a way too LOL). So grateful to be growing and falling in love with my images over and over again.

My camera settings for this image is F18 at 25 seconds ISO 400 with my Canon 5D Mark II and my 17-40mm wide angle lens.