ANGELA B. PAN

First of all, I just wanted to say thank you sooooooo much to everyone who commented, left messages or called me yesterday. You all really know how to make me feel special. I had the best day with Andrew yesterday in New York. If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen a little bit of it on my stories. So thank you, thank you, thank you. I am just so happy right now.

And to completely flip the script, remember when this was like the worst day ever?! This past winter was so nice and mild. I really thought we were going to get away with no snow at all. But March hit, all the flowers started budding/blooming and BAMN winter snow storm Stella. I’m still shaking my head as I’m writing this.

Man, I was so worried that this snow storm was going to effect the cherry blossoms. I mean look at them in this picture! Don’t they look so sad and cold. I’d never seen anything like it at the Tidal Basin. But as my friend, Bob Marley would say “Don’t worry about a thing, cuz every little thing is going to be all right”. And it did! It ended up being the best cherry blossom season I had experienced! The weather was absolutely perfect after the storm went away and a lot more of the cherry blossoms survived than expected. And don’t get me started on that one day we had fog! Holy Crap! The best part was that since a lot of people thought the cherry blossoms weren’t going to make it, the tidal basin was definietly not as crowded. It was just so freeing! Ahh I’m so happy just thinking about it.

And I’m happy that it was my birthday.

I’m just happy all around. Thank you again! <3

So excited it’s Friday! YES!  This weekend is going to be so fun. I get to spend it with some of my best girlfriends and then Andrew and I will be going to New York. We’ll be gone for most of the week next week and it seriously couldn’t have come at a better time. Time to refresh and enjoy the views 🙂 If you have any photo recommendations, let me know. I’d love to get on to some rooftops while we’re there.

But speaking of views, I love this one. I photograph DC a lot. Sometimes it can be difficult to come up with new and original compositions. Either other people have done it before or I have. The key for me is to walk in different directions, in different environments, and go frequently. This is probably something I’ve captured before during cherry blossom season or something like that, but on this particular morning it was foggy. Taken just 20 minutes after this image, you can really see how drastically the sky changes. But with the fog and the green leaves on the trees, it looked completely different to me. It was very muted and so quite. I love that branch that looks like it’s slicing the Jefferson Memorial and it’s reflection in half. It’s probably my favorite part. At first I was unsure about the puddle on the sidewalk, if it was really necessary or if I even liked it. But the more I look at it, the more I felt like it tells the complete picture. It tells the whole story of what it was like being there. The entire morning I was dodging giant puddles like this all around the tidal basin.

My camera settings for this image was F/6.3 at 1/6th of a second and ISO 200 handheld.

Usually before I go to bed, I will check my phone for the weather. That pretty much determines if I’m going to wake up for sunrise or not. So last week I was in bed, messing around on my phone when I saw a fog advisory popped up. Music to my ears! I don’t know about where you live, but we don’t get many foggy days in the summer time. Our foggy days usually happen in the winter. So I was so excited to go to sleep so I could wake up to my favorite weather to shoot in.

I was up extra early, got ready and drove down to the tidal basin. I had a hard time even locating the Washington Monument while I was driving into the city. That’s how you know it’s going to be a fantastic day! When I got to my destination, I couldn’t help but smile. The way that the fog was playing with the Washington Monument lights was so cool. I’m glad I got there when I did because soon after I captured this, the color in the sky went away and it slowly got brighter out so the lights weren’t as visible. I posted this image up on my instagram the same day and a friend commented, “U captured an angel in your shot”. OMG it made me see this image in a whole new way. I love it.

What also makes me so happy is that I got emails, texts and messages asking if I saw the fog in the morning. Thank you for all of you who did that. I love that when you see fog you think of me – a thick cloud over the city. HAHA! I love it!

This image was shot at F4.1 at 1.3 seconds at ISO 320.

Not to call anyone out, but are you a senior citizen? If so, you should definietly know about the new changes to the National Park passes. Starting August 28th, the National Park service is increasing the price of the pass from $10 to $80. So you have exactly 2 weeks to get one if you are old enough. The best part is that you get free admission to any National Park for the rest of your life. That’s a freakin’ deal if you ask me!

Right before our trip to Colorado and Utah, Andrew and I purchased a regular National Park pass. It was $80 and it’s only good for a year. With that trip alone, it paid for itself. A lot of the parks that we went to were $20-$25 admission and the amount of parks we visited paid for the pass within 5 days of our trip. So awesome and convienet. There were even some state parks that accepted the pass too. It’s totally worth it.

So if you’re interested, click on this link from the National Park Service page for more information. Share it with your family and friends too! They will thank you.

This image was taken in Rocky Mountain National Park on our last sunrise of the trip. The sunrise itself wasn’t that great but as soon as the sun came up above the horizon, it turned everything around Bear Lake pink! And that rock in the middle of the water was so beautiful. I knew it would make a great piece for foreground. The perfect way to end our trip even though I really didn’t want it to end. I really enjoyed my time in Rocky Mountain National Park and I look forward to visiting again soon. And any other National Park I visit if a senior citizen wanted to take me. LOL JK.

Kinda trippy, isn’t it? Like Whaaa?

One morning earlier this year during cherry blossom season, I woke up feelin’ real good. I was able to wake up extra early, drove down to the tidal basin and found amazing parking. (This is an extra big deal because parking can be pretty impossible during cherry blossom season). I basically walked around like I was going to rock this photoshoot with the cherry blossoms. Not to toot my own horn, but I knew some magic was about to happen! Then I saw these guys. They were taking the best cherry blossom trees and lighting them up from the bottom. If you know me and my photography, you know that I never use additional light. No flashes, no strobes, none of that stuff. I always use the light available to me. So I stood there for a minute and thought about how I could make the best use out of the ‘available light’. I really don’t think this image would have been as successful if there was no ‘light at the end of the tunnel’. It creates a depth that I would have not been able to accomplish. So, shout out to the photographers that you see on the left side of this image. You guys created something spectacular for me to capture 🙂 Muchas Gracias.

Although my favorite part of this image has nothing to do with the reflection or the depth that this image has. If you look in the puddle, on the bottom right hand corner, then you’ll see this cherry blossom petal created a heart. I think that little detail is so subtle but so sweet. I was so happy to see it during post production. I like it so much that I don’t even mind that it’s out of focus. I kinda like it better that way.

It’s pretty rare to be able to get an image like this. I think it’s only possible at sunrise. With the glow of the morning peaking through the entrance and hardly anyone there, I feel lucky to live in the DC area and be able to do things like this.

In the image is my friend, Del. I met her and her husband, Matt a couple of years ago in San Francisco. We stayed in touch through social media so it was awesome when they sent me a message letting me know that they were going to be in town. We met up at sunrise in front of the reflecting pool and spent the next hour walking around the different memorials. I knew I had to take them inside the Lincoln Memorial. What other time do you get to have time alone with a President? Any other time of the day, this memorial is PACKED.

I also love how she adds scale to President Lincoln. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you may have noticed something new I’ve been doing. I’ve been intentionally trying to add people into my images. Trying to break out of my comfort zone and trying new compositions. Most of the time the people look small, sometimes I put myself in the images, but nevertheless, it’s something that I’ve been really liking lately. It adds scale but also a human element that makes you feel like you’re in the picture with that person. Don’t worry though, I will still shoot “the silent landscapes” too. It’s just so hard to compare the two.

The exposure settings for this image is f/5.0 at 0.3 seconds at ISO 320 shot on a tripod. Luckily, Del was standing still long enough so that everything in the image is sharp.