ANGELA B. PAN

So weird that it’s Wednesday, right? I feel like long holidays always throw off my sense of days. Not that I’m complaining at all. I love them. I got to spend time with family and friends and there’s nothing better than that!

Saturday we had a lot of rain. It rained all day and was super gloomy. So in my head that meant that Sunday would have a good sunrise. Even though I was still in my ‘long holiday mode’, I still managed to wake up in time to catch the sunrise from the Lincoln Memorial. I was super lucky too. The sky only had a little hint of pink for a minute and then it was gone. The rest of the sunrise was cloudy and gloomy. But you know what’s funny? Around this time of year, I always see young people hanging out on the steps of the Lincoln. I can only assume that they just started collage and it’s the first time that they have complete freedom. So they stay up all night, doing who knows what, and then thinks its a great idea to watch the sunrise over the reflecting pool. They’re never rowdy or disruptive, but you can definietly tell that they’re struggling to stay awake. LOL. I’m sure I did similar things when I was in college. But hey, at least they’re taking the time to appreciate the new day 🙂 Which they’re probably going to just sleep through anyways. You can see what I mean on the bottom left, next to the column. You may not have noticed it, but there’s someone laying down there “appreciating the new day”.

My camera settings for this image was F13 at 8 seconds ISO 200 on a tripod. Luckily, this early in the morning, no one cares about about your tripod.

Speaking of adding a human element in your images... What about adding a puppy element? Dogs make the best models 🙂

We didn’t have much planned last weekend but all of us wanted to get out of the house. Including Frankie. So we ran a few errands and along the way stopped at James Madison Memorial Building. I have seen pictures of it on instagram, but never actually visited. Also, we didn’t get the chance to go inside because we had Frankie, but the outside was beautiful. I love all the repeating columns. They’re really different than the ones you’d see at the Jefferson Memorial or Lincoln Memorial because theres hardly any space in between them. It gives off a totally different effect. Plus these columns are a lot more straight and modern looking than the other memorials.

Frankie was the perfect model. You can’t see it but Andrew was standing just to the left of him in between the columns just to make sure nothing happened. But he just sat there and posed. It really wasn’t much effort at all to get him to sit like that. He didn’t even move until a group of people walked passed and all he wanted to do wag his tail and greet them as if they had walked into his home. To be honest, I did photoshop out his leash. It was just a long, red leash that totally didn’t go with the final image I was looking for. I love how he looks so tiny in this massive environment. I hope next time we’ll be able to go inside.

The day after I took this, I showed it to my nephews. They said that next time I should photograph Frankie on a throne. LOL. I think their dad has been watching a bit too much of Game of Thrones. LOL.

During cherry blossom season, I was obsessed with finding puddles. I made it a mission to find whatever reflection I could get and try to make it work. So I figured after Monday’s rain that there would be tons of puddles. Wrong! There were hardly any. Even the ones that I knew that had to be here, were not even there. It was so strange. It was almost like it didn’t even rain. Oh well. So I was happy when I saw this one itty bitty little piece of reflection.

At one point while I was shooting other potential reflections, this couple from Panama came up to me. They told me that they owned a camera store and were desperately trying to get their kids in to photography. I must of looked like I had the biggest question mark on my face because I think they were trying to ask me for advice. I dunno? Give them a kick-ass camera and tell them to go play? That’d definietly motivate me to get more into photography. They were also super impressed by the fact that I’d get down low for my shot. So I showed them some of my images on my camera and for some reason I felt like they were really happy for me. The kind of look that only parents give. They were so sweet. I think it’s awesome that they were pushing their kids toward the creative side. At the end of the conversation they invited me to go Panama to eat sea food with them and visit their camera store. I have no idea what their names were or even where they live in Panama but it was so kind of them to stop and say such nice things. It really made my night that much better.

Man, why don’t people photograph this building more often? Actually, why don’t I photograph this building more often? Its so beautiful and right across the street from the US Capitol. It should be one of those places that people love to visit.

It’s crazy, I shot this image last fall but never got around to editing it. I think that happens a lot. I just get so carried away with shooting sometimes that I forget I have to spend more time sitting in front of a computer and edit them. I dont mind though because I like editing almost as much as I like shooting. I didn’t even remember that I shot this until a client of mine asked me for Supreme Court shots. I was like ‘I know I’ve been there before…’ LOL.

It’s kind of intimidating place to be there though. Theres ALWAYS security officers all around the grounds. You feel like you’re being watched with every move you make. Not like how it is at the US Capitol or any of the other memorials I usually visit where you can run around buck naked and no one would even care. JUST KIDDING. Don’t do that. Please don’t do that.

This was shot at f/7.1 1/25th of a second at ISO 250 with my 16-35mm handheld. The only way to get a shot like this is to shoot with a wide angle. I love the contrast between the columns and the sky. Luckily this was around the time of sunset so the sun was doing amazing things on the marble. I also like the natural leading lines the columns create.

Washington DC is so great for architecture and the Supreme Court is just one example of that. Hope to explore more in the city and find more interesting angles like this one.

In between shooting cherry blossom sunrises, I made my way over to the National Arboretum this past weekend. I met up with a bunch of friends from IGDC . (If you don’t know them, you should check them out on instagram especially if you’re in the DC area.) It was really cool because it also World Wide Instameet weekend and the theme was ‘kindness’. So IGDC and the Humane Rescue Alliance in DC teamed up to show off some adoptable dogs. I had a BALL hanging out with all the dogs. There were so many of them. The best was when one dog would get really excited and then get all the other dogs excited and watching them bark at each other. I don’t know why, but I think its so funny. Taking the group shot at the end was particularly enjoyable to see the dogs “together”. Unfortunately, Frankie couldn’t make it 🙁

This was shot in the middle of the day. I want to say around 11:30. These columns sit on top of a hill in the middle of the arboretum and the first thing I noticed were the shadows they were creating in the grass. I quickly changed my lens to the 16-35mm so I could get it all. That’s when I noticed the sun flare. I really think that sun is there for that extra added bonus. However, I think if I were to redo this shot again, I would of tried to get a dog or a person in the the middle of the columns or in the foreground somewhere. Oh well. I’m still really happy with how this turned out.

The settings for this image were F22 1/25 of a second ISO 100. I had to shoot small just to exaggerate the flares coming out of the sun a little more.

Yesterday was Presidents Day. So happy belated presidents day to you all. Shout out to big GW!

So not only was the weekend amazing beautiful here in the DC area but one of my most favorite things about President’s day is Library of Congress’ Main Reading Room Open House. Its only open to the public on President’s day and Columbus day so it really is a special treat to go inside. This was probably my third time attending one of these open houses and it NEVER gets old. Not sure what it is, but it’s like you are smarter just by standing there. I mean the very first book ever printed is even on display here. One of my favorite parts is going to the card catalog room and pretend like I’m looking for a book. This room is humungous so I’m not sure how anybody can find anything in there so that’s why I pretend 🙂

This is obviously not an image of the reading room. I have a couple of those you can see here and here that I took from previous visits.  This is an image of a hallway. Where it goes, I have no idea. It was blocked off to visitors but I couldn’t help myself. I had to take a few snaps before anyone came and found me. But even from this little hallway, you can tell that this entire space is so beautiful. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, this is by far my favorite interior of all of DC. It’s one of those hidden gems that a lot of tourists don’t get to see. Click here if you’d like to see the main room. It’s a stunner. Jaw droppingly amazing. So if you plan to visit at all, definietly try to come on Presidents day or Columbus day. If not, you still won’t be disappointed.