ANGELA B. PAN

Taken at the same time as this image, these two scenes were taking place just a few steps away from each. Luckily, I was across the street and I didn’t have to take those steps. All I had to do was shift my body a little bit and I saw these lovely ladies getting their hair done. Obviously, hair appointments don’t stop when it’s raining out.

I think my favorite part about this image are all the tones that are going on. It’s such an everyday scene (at least for women) but everything seems to be matching. For example the blues. The overall image is very blue, but blues can be found in the woman’s shirt that’s closest to the left, then in the hair towel and apron on the women in the center and then the apron on the woman on the very right. Those blue tones match the neon lights that you see reflecting in the mirror along with some orange tones. The orange tones go along the woman who has her hair in a bun, then the orange apron, and a little bit of orange in the store sign to the very left. Oh and I forgot to mention there’s even a little orange in the sign hanging on the wall on the very right. To be honest, I didn’t notice how everything matched so well when I captured the image, but now that I see the scene, I just like it so much more.

My camera settings for this image are F4 at 1/200th sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm.

When we booked our hotel I knew the rooftop views were going to be epic, but I didn’t know how good they would be. Here was the view when you walked straight out onto the patio. As soon as we walked out there, my jaw dropped. I loved being able to see so much for the skyline but then I turned to the side and saw this. So cool right? A birds eye view of the Manhattan bridge.

After our first trip to the rooftop, Andrew and I decided to just walk around the city and get some food to eat and run a few errands. We found ourselves all the way up midtown and was shocked by how many people we saw. Somehow we ended up really close to Rockefeller center and literally stood in the same spot for like 10 minutes because there were just so many people. There was no flow of traffic and we were just stuck. Even with police there, no one was moving. It was kind of insane but the best part was this guy in front of me who screamed “ok, who just slapped my ass”. LOL.

Needless to say once we got back to the hotel, we were tired. But I wanted to go back up to the rooftop one more time. I really didn’t want to. The bed was calling my name, but I knew that it was the only opportunity I was going to get.

It was a little awkward walking back to the rooftop. By that time, it was basically a club with everyone all dressed up. I was still in my sneakers and winter coat. Oh well. Anything for the shot, right?

My camera settings for this image is F6.3 at 0.8 sec at ISO 1250 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle.

I’ve been noticing a trend lately. A trend just between Andrew and I that we’ll agree that we’ll travel somewhere or go somewhere fun and then I have to do all the work. Like pick the travel itinerary, hotel, etc etc etc. But I’m not even mad about it because that means I have full control over everything. LOL. So when we decided we were going to go to New York for his birthday, I was on the hunt for a great hotel.

We used to only stay in Starwood hotels. At one point of time I had so many points on our SPG Preferred Member account that we used to stay in hotels for free all the time. Unfortunately, all those points have gone away so we were debating whether or not we wanted to stay with them this time. We figured staying in a new neighborhood and change of scenery would be nice and let us get to know a different part of New York. So I found this great place in Chinatown for us to stay.

The room was nice and everything but the best part was the rooftop. As soon as we put our stuff down in the room, I grabbed my camera and I was ready to go all the way up. Since the sunset is earlier in the day for winter and it was a cloudy day overall, I knew I had to get up there as soon as possible if I wanted to get a “day time shot”.  The lighting was a bit difficult to work with. I actually re-edited this image 6 or 7 times before I finally came up with something I liked.

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/100th sec and ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

Last week, I was so honored to be invited by POD DC and Crimson Diner & Whiskey Bar to join them for an end of the summer rooftop celebration. The new hotel with accompanying diner is located right in Penn Quarter. They had a wonderful tasting menu including lobster rolls and a fun cocktail making class. I participated in both 🙂

And now that sunset is earlier and earlier in the day, we were up on the roof just in time to watch the sun go down and the dark sky light up. My favorite part of the view is being able to see the Friendship Archway at Chinatown with the Washington Monument all the way in the very back. So cool! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a vantage point like this one.

My intention for this image was to capture some car light streaks going through the Friendship Archway. I did not have my tripod so I kinda of balanced my camera along the edge of the rooftop to capture this. The settings on my camera was F7.1 at 3.2 seconds and ISO 160 and I didn’t even need a wide angle. This was shot with my 28-70mm and was still able to capture it all. But I also have to credit my Sony A7II for this. It’s fantastic in low light situations and it was so easy to capture this.

Even on a Thursday night, there were still quite a few people walking around and enjoying the night. I wanted to make sure that it looked lively so I upped the saturation in the lighter parts of this image to make it look a little more vibrant and happening.

Now that I know about this place, I’d love to go back on a night with a really nice sunset. I think the images would turn out fantastic. Thanks again, POD DC. I had a blast!

DC isn’t just the monuments. It’s a beautiful place with so many things inside the city and surrounding states. Here are a few of my personal favorite images from this past year.

Part 3: Around DC

In no particular order… Click the image to find the original blog post and the story behind it.

This year started off with a crazy snow storm. Crazy but beautiful.

The Capitol Farris Wheel in the fog on a warm February evening

Smithsonian Gardens is definietly the hot spot for springtime. I mean C’MON!

A little close up for all you flower lovers.

Standing outside of the Newseum, creeping on people walking by. I mean watching people walk by.

Inside the National Portrait Gallery. I had never been to the very top floor. Very cool! Highly recommended.

A modern take on America in the National Portrait Gallery.

Beautiful sunflower fields in Southern MD. My favorite summer time flower.

Great Falls Park is the perfect place to go in Virginia to catch the fall leaves changing colors.

Thank you all so much for tagging along with me on all my crazy adventures this year. It was definietly a blast, but I know 2017 is going to be even better! Cheers to you! <3

In case you missed the previous two posts:
My favorite images from travel
My favorite images of the DC monuments