ANGELA B. PAN

We didn’t get to spend enough time in Tucson, Arizona. Mainly because it was so freakin’ hot! We drove through a serious heat wave where it was 90 degrees at 8a in the morning. By noon it was up in the 110 to 115 range. It was just so uncomfortable to be outside. Like if you’ve ever gone to Bikram Yoga you know what it’s like in the room. It was hot, humid and you kinda feel like you are having trouble breathing. Well it was like that in Tucson but outdoors. There was no way to get any kind relief except to stand next to the air conditioning. I think the majority of our visit was spent hanging out in the hotel pool to cool off. When we woke up the morning, we packed our bags and left as soon as we could. No offense, Arizona.

But the little bit of it that we did get to see, I really enjoyed. My fav was seeing all the saguaro cacti. I’ve never seen so many in one place. And they were huge! I wish I could have taken one home with me. And the part that I was most surprised about was how many airplanes there were. Granted, our hotel was near the airport but even driving around other parts of the city, it felt like it was a grave yard of airplanes. As if all the airplanes in the world just laid to rest and picked Tucson to hangout in.

The ice cream ain’t bad though 😉

I’d definietly would want to go back again. I didn’t get to see or experience nearly as much as I wanted to but next time I visit Arizona, I’m thinking it will be in the winter time 🙂 Maybe at that time they’ll have some descent weather.

Afraid of heights? Yea, me neither. I actually think heights can be fun. Sometimes.

This was taken looking down from a rooftop in Ginza, Tokyo during a fun photo tour I had with Eyexplore Tokyo. I joined them for one of their Vertigo tours and it was definietly a different view of the city than I was expecting. In this image, we were looking down at 3 or 4 different buildings. Hard to tell how many there really are because all them are so close to each other. But most of the time we were confined to really tight spaces on top of these buildings. So, I’m the one wearing black shoes and the tour leader, Axel is wearing the brown ones. Andrew was directly behind me so he didn’t make it into the shot but that was basically as much room we were given on this rooftop. Just goes to show you how smushed we really were and how super jammed pack the city is. There was definietly not enough room for tripods at all. Good thing the Sony a7ii is so great in low light situations. I was using the balcony for camera support during the longer exposure times.

The camera settings for this image was f/4 at .5 sec at ISO 500. The ISO definietly had to be bumped up to compensate for the lack of tripod. But I’m glad I was still able to capture the colors and angle so nicely. For sure a difficult shot and if I had the opportunity, I’d love to do something similar in DC. But I’m not sure how rooftop-hopping would go in these government secured buildings. LOL.

If you ever find yourself in Toyko, consider joining one of their tours. I’m sure you’ll learn a lot, like I did 🙂 Tell them Angela sent you.

This was taken last year in Tokyo Skytree. When I was researching different places to take pictures in Toyko, Skytree was definietly on top of my list. Not just for the amazing views, but also the possibility of photographing people looking at said views. It sounds a bit weird, I know, but I think that some of the more interesting photos are the ones of that include other people enjoying the same things you are.

So here I was, enjoying the beautiful view from 2080′ in the air, when I heard a lot of little voices laughing and talking. I turned around and saw a bunch of little kids with what looked like to be there teacher. It was so cute because all of them were wearing these yellow hats so it was really easy to spot them in a crowd. It immediately reminded me of when I was in elementary school and we’d always go on class field trips to the Smithsonian museums or to the Washington Monument in matching t-shirts.

Not to sound like a creeper, but I followed these kids around for a little bit. I wanted to find the right time so I could photograph them enjoying the views. They finally stopped and all lined up in front of a window as there teacher was showing them something outside. I started to shoot. These two girls in the back must of heard my camera clicking because they immediately turned around with big smiles and gave the international signal for “I’m ready for my close up” by pulling out the peace fingers. Aren’t they so cute? No words or anything were exchanged. Just a little “Arigatou gozaimasu” (thank you very much) from me and a big smile and they kept on moving with the rest of the yellow-hat kids.

As you’re reading this, I’m on my way to London! Excited to explore the city with my camera. What should I do first?

Who knew there were great views like this from Union Station? Last week I met up with my friends Zack, Dave and Navin to shoot sunset and so glad we stumbled upon this view. I see myself coming to this spot much more often to see what else I can capture.

Have you guys been watching the Olympics? I’m sorry to say that I’m a little obsessed. My favorites are women’s gymnastics (duh!) and women’s swimming. I mean how insane is Katie Ledecky? While I watching her match over the weekend she beat her own world record by almost a body length. AND she’s only 19! That’s crazy! At 19 I was worried about finding a fake ID so I could get into the club that weekend. Not breaking world records. It’s so inspiring to watch.