ANGELA B. PAN

Woke up at 4:30a yesterday to go light chasing!

My friend, Larry and I made our way to the Thornton Gap Entrance at Shenandoah National Park and it was fantastic. So many times I’ve been to Shenandoah National Park and run into fog like this and this. Yesterday was the opposite of that. It was cloudy but clear enough to see some fantastic colors. I haven’t had a chance to go through all my images, but I really liked this one. I think it really captures the mood plus I can’t stop looking at the light that is hitting this man’s yellow jacket. By the way, that’s not Larry. It was just another photographer enjoying the sunrise with us.

As far as a foliage report, I think this weekend would be a great time to go. This overlook, which is very close to the entrance, had some beautiful, colorful trees. As we were driving up the mountain though, we noticed that a lot of trees had already become bare with yellow leaves on the ground. So if you haven’t checked out much fall color, I’d recommend going to Shenandoah National Park soon. I’m not sure about the Front Royal entrance but if I had to guess, I’d guess it would probably be better to go sooner than later.

Man it’s like the fall colors came so quickly and now we’re already talking about them leaving? It’s like cherry blossom season in the fall. But speaking of cherry blossoms, I heard the Tidal Basin is looking real nice too. So I have a busy weekend planned of shooting.

Also Larry was kind enough to let me borrow his Sony A7III and I may be in love. My camera settings for this image is F9 at 1/80th sec at ISO 800 with Larry’s A7III and my 70-200mm handheld.

So this is the type of weather I would expect for October. When it’s cool and crisp outside but still indecisive enough so you can get these really moody sunrise/blue hour type images. Not the 80 degree weather we have been getting.

I took this image last year with my friend, Larry. Pretty much ever since we’ve met, we’ve made it an appoint to go to Shenandoah National Park to check out the fall foliage. I think last year was our third year in a row. But I remember this day VERY clearly. It was crazy, crazy foggy. So foggy to the point where we could not see much of the mountains. It was all just fog. It was even difficult to drive at some points. Obviously Larry and I got out of the car to capture a few images here and there but we soon decided that we needed to have a second trip in order to actually capture the type of images we wanted.

This particular image was taken along side of skyline drive. We parked the car and were pretty much the only ones in the park that early in the morning so it was easy to just get out and walk in the middle of the road. It could have been a little dangerous considering how foggy it actually was and the visibility was basically zero. But luckily, I was with Larry and we would look out for each other in case a car was coming. The yellow and red leaves in this image just make me so happy.

Looking forward to the leaves changing this year in the park and hopefully visiting again sometime soon with Larry.

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/30th sec at ISO 250 with my Sony A7II and my 16-35mm wide angle zoom lens.

Happy Labor Day! Hope everyone is having a great long weekend. Now that Labor Day is almost over would it be inappropriate to start counting down the days until Fall? Although you can’t tell, I took this image in the fall time a couple of years back. The fog had taken over the valley so much that you can’t even see anything but the beautiful curves of the mountains. I love the almost monochromatic blues in this image. It makes it so abstract and different from other images of the national park. Really looking forward to going back this year when the leaves start changing. I love Shenandoah during that time of year.

Speaking of traveling, this time next week Andrew and I will be on our way to our next travel destination. It’s kind of overwhelming since we just got back from California and planned this trip so last minute but either way I know it will be a great time. To be completely honest, we still haven’t figured everything out yet. It’s a place that neither one of us have been to and it will definietly be an adventure. Can’t wait to tell you about it soon.

In the meantime, let me know if you have in fall plans. I’m already loving all the pumpkin spiced things in the grocery stores but I have to be honest, the halloween and christmas stuff seem to be a TADDDDD too early though. LOL.  But so far my only fall plan is that there is a photowalk in the works! It’s going to be great and so different from the ones I’ve done before. So keep the middle-ish/end of October free. It’s going to be a good one!

My camera settings for this image is F13 at 1/20th of a second and ISO 125 with my Canon 5D Mark II and 24-105mm lens on a tripod.

I’m not sure what has gotten into me lately, but I’ve been waking up so early. Like way before my alarm goes off to wake me up for sunrise, even early enough where I could scramble myself some eggs for breakfest and still be on time to watch the sun. Oh man. That’s early! It’s like I’m jet lagged…

But what else is there to do at 5 o’clock in the morning but go out and take pics, right?

Luckily we’ve been having some awesome sunrises around the Washington DC area. This particular morning wasn’t as colorful as I usually hope for but it was so moody. I’ll take it!

It rained over night and the steps to the United States Capitol was so reflective. You know me, I love a good puddle when I see one. So I was playing around with different angles and perspectives when I finally came across this one. Holy cow, I love how the trees look as big as the Capitol Building. One of my favorite things to do is to get down low and make whatever is in the foreground look bigger than what’s in the background. Its sort of a eye-mind trick thing but I think it looks super cool. And for some reason my eye keeps going down to the reflection and staring at the Statue of Freedom lookin’ like a squiggly line. It’s so interesting how that came out.

Don’t get me wrong though, I am not complaining about waking up early. I’m complaining about being super sleepy by 8pm every night. #grandmastatus So expect to see way more sunrise images from me soon 🙂 I’ve got a few lined up.

My camera settings for this image is F22 at 0.6 seconds and ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

Normally I’m behind the camera. It’s where I feel the most comfortable and let’s be honest, the results are usually a whole lot better when I’m back there. LOL. But this time I could not resist stepping in front and throwing some leaves around. Especially when the fall colors are this amazing, how could you not? They’re gorgeoussss.

I took this in Manassas National Battlefield Park, Virginia. A great place to go when you want to capture some great open spaces. Obviously, this is not an open space.  I wasn’t even intending on taking an image like this when I arrived. I sort of did the same thing as I do when I’m in Washington, DC. I park my car and go. Either way, I think it still worked out, no?

My camera settings for this image is F3.5 at 1/40th of a second at ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm lens. I had my camera on my tripod and set it on a 10 second timer in order to put myself in the image. It was a scramble to get in front of the lens and pick up a whole bunch of leaves to throw in the air in 10 seconds. It was fun scramble though. Wait, I just realized, does this mean I took a selfie? HAHA

On a totally different note, if you’re in the DC area, it will be worth your time to check out DC PhotoWeek that’s going on right now. I had the opportunity to check out some photo talks and the best of IGDC exhibit over the weekend and both were so great. I learned a lot and got to see some amazing images. There’s A LOT going on this week so take the time out to check it out. So worth it, trust me!

Most of the time when I wake up for sunrise, I have no real plans of what I’m going to photograph. Especially now with daylight savings, I’ve been waking up earlier than my alarm and can’t fall back asleep. Theres really nothing else to do that early in the morning but to get ready and go take sunrise pictures.  I just figure out where I want to park my car and let my eyes be the guide. Most of the time that results in some of the best pics.

I took this image early last week. I spent most of the morning walking around Constitution Gardens. I always find myself going back there in the fall. I love the trees and reflections you can get from the water, but this day was a little rough. The sunrise wasn’t much to look at because it was so cloudy. The trees weren’t very colorful yet so I didn’t get much from the pond. Sometimes you win some, sometimes you loose some. I don’t get upset. It just happens.

So I decided to keep walking and I ended up by the Washington Monument. Luckily, there were some beautiful yellow trees along Constitution Ave. that I didn’t notice while I was driving. It was like the branches were reaching toward me screaming, “take my picture, take my picture”. I found a couple that perfectly framed the Washington Monument and played around with the composition. I think my favorite part of the image is seeing the branches themselves. I think it’s really interesting to follow each twist and turn and see where they end up.

What about you? I’d love to know what you like about the image.

My camera settings for this image is F4.5 at 1/400th of a second at ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm lens.