ANGELA B. PAN

So you know now what I did Saturday morning. I was having fun walking around the National Mall in dense fog here and here.

But Saturday night was a different story. I was at home bored with nothing to do. LOL. So I thought I’d go through some of my San Diego images again. I don’t know if any of you other photographers out there feel like this but sometimes I just need to sit on some photos before I can edit them again. At times Ill get really excited and want to edit them all right away, but most of the time I know that doing it immediately won’t bring the best result. Sometimes I have to really envision what I want the end result to look like before anything good can come out of it. So that’s kind of what I’ve been doing with my SoCal images. Believe me, I took plenty of pics while I was there. But I felt like I had to sit and think about them for a while.

And Saturday night was the time I figured would be best to go through the images I took at the Salk Institute. It was one of my favorite places to visit while we were in San Diego. The architecture was mind blowing. I know I don’t usually do this but here are multiple angles from this place. LOL I told you I was bored. I had plenty of time on my hands to edit all of these images.

View of Salk when you first enter. My jaw dropped.

This is what Andrew typically does when we’re out taking pictures. Most likely he was looking up places for us to go eat after I was done.

Man on a phone. I think I creeped him out by taking his picture so he turned around. LOL.

To be honest my personal life has been busy, espcially in the past week or so. So busy to the point that I almost forgot that we’re leaving on a short getaway tomorrow. Around Thanksgiving time, Andrew and I booked a trip to Orlando with our cousins and I haven’t really thought about it much since then. But at this point, I can’t think of anything better. I can’t wait to soak up the Florida sun and spend a couple days on rides and rollercoasters. I’ll have my camera and drone with me, but I’m not sure how much I’ll be shooting. I hope to get at least one cool shot of the fireworks at the Disney castle, other than that I have no real plans.

So if you have any Orlando, Disney, or Universal Studios recommendations, please let me know! It’s my first time visiting since I was a child. You better believe that I’ll be rocking Minnie Mouse ears though! I can’t wait <3

This image has nothing to do with Florida but it does put me in a relaxing mood which is what I’m looking forward to the most on our trip. I took this one morning in La Jolla, San Diego. There weren’t as many sea lions out but for some reason they were all gathered on this rock. So I sat down and watched them for a good 20 minutes. The sun was just coming up and I loved feeling the wind in my hair. I knew I wanted to place myself in this image some how so I could remember the moment and what it was like to be there. So out came my legs and I took a shoefy. Don’t yell at me, but I never remember to tie my shoes until I really have to. LOL.

My camera settings for this image is F9 at 1/50th of a second at ISO 250 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

On our last day in California I thought about the places that I would miss the most in San Diego. We were able to see and capture a lot in the two weeks that we were there so there were a lot of places to consider. Each of locations were great in their own way but I decided that I’d only go to my absolute favorites on the very last day for sunrise and sunset. Somehow both times ended up being somewhere in La Jolla.

This image was from our very last ‘sunset’. It was so foggy at the Windansea Beach and the visibility was very low. It didn’t matter though. I was just so happy to be there. I love just sitting on the rocks, feeling that ocean breeze in my hair and taking in the whole scene.  It was really cool to see so many surfers out too. The waves were huge and I have no idea what kind of system they have in the water to make sure they don’t run into each other, but it was so fun to watch them ride. It seemed like at any given moment there was a surfer coming in and a surfer going out. But now that I think about it, I don’t think I ever felt the water myself. I just automatically assumed it was going to be cold and didn’t even try. LOL.

I’ll definietly miss San Diego, especially on cold weather days back home in Washington DC but I’m super grateful for the time we got to spend there. I know we’ll definietly be back to California sometime in the near future. I’ll be thinking about you beaches, palm trees and all organic green smoothies. (How did this turn into an eulogy?)

My camera settings for this image is F10 at 1/50th of a second at ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm lens on my gitzo tripod.

If I had to pick a place to live in San Diego, it would definietly be La Jolla. Not just because there are big, beautiful homes there but I just love the vibe of it. Everyone seems so peaceful and relaxed. It was a nice change of pace to just walk around the town and not have to worry about anything. I felt like I was smiling at every street corner. PLUS the seals and sea lions like to hangout on the beaches. But where I found most of my favorite photo places in San Diego.

Take this place for example, Salk Institute. I found out about it from this blog and I’m so grateful to have been able to visit. It is so aesthetically pleasing! Seriously when I walked for the first time I just stood there for a minute in awe of it all. The architecture, the lines, the space was all just amazingly beautiful. You know you love a space when you literally spend 30 minutes just photographing a staircase. LOL. Not even joking.

However, this image is not of the staircase. It’s just a portion of a hallway. Sooo cool, right? At the end of the hallway you would be able to see a full on orange tree if Andrew wasn’t walking by. So Cal, man you are amazing. Next time I visit and have more time, I’d love to attend the architectural tour at the Salk Institute. I’m sure theres so much more to see on this campus! I’m not sure how anyone could get any work done here. If I worked here, I’d be standing by the pool watching the clouds float by everyday.

The camera settings for this image is F5.0 at 1/80th of a second at ISO 800 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

Last summer when I was in San Diego, my friend, Sue and I spent a crazy amount of time at the La Jolla Cove. It was not intentional, it just happened. We had just finished driving cross country from northern Virginia and we were exhausted! Obviously we made stops along the way but our average drive everyday was about 8-9 hours. So by the time we arrived to our final destination in San Diego, we just wanted to chill!

We only had one full day in San Diego so we wanted to make the most of it. We spent the morning at the La Jolla farmers market sampling some of the finest vegan cuisine that SoCal had to offer and then walked over to the cove. That is when we spotted all the sea lions and seals on the rocks and it was pretty much over from there. There were so many of them! Neither one of us could not stop squealing at how cute the animals were and accidentally ended up spending more than 3 hours at the cove. LOL oh well. It was a much needed break and a great way for us to relax.

So this time around I knew that I had to go back and see my friends again. There weren’t as many of them out as there was last time I was here, but it was still cute none the less. They look like they’re loving that early morning light. I love watching them swim around, climb on the rocks and interact with each other. It’s like they are wet dogs. LOL.

My camera settings for this image is F10 at 1/60th of a second and ISO 125 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm lens.

Click here to watch my video from our road trip. It was a blast and a half!

Greetings from San Diego! and Happy New Year! This is my first official blog post of 2018. The first two were prescheduled in 2017. Kinda sneaky, eh? LOL.

So far 2018 has been nothing short of beautiful. I’m currently sitting on the front porch of our Airbnb cottage, listening to water flowing from a water fountain and staring at some beautiful oranges on our orange tree. Not sure how it could get any better than this. Since arriving, Andrew, Frankie and I have just been settling into our new environment. We went to the farmers market to pick up some fresh produce and just been sightseeing and getting to know the area a little better. We’re staying in North Park and loving every minute of it. Every morning we’ve been here has been incredibly foggy. Foggy but so fun and exciting! By mid-morning everything clears up and it’s back to enjoying the sunny skies.

I took this image yesterday in La Jolla at Ellen Browning Scripps Memorial Pier. It was taken about an hour after sunrise and after the fog lifted from the beach. My favorite part of this image is that little hit of sun glow on the wood. To be honest, I’m not sure how busy this place gets at sunrise but somehow I feel lucky to have been the only one there. Well, me and this seagull of course.

I can’t wait to explore San Diego even more with my camera. So if you have any photo recommendations for me, let me know! Also food recommendations. I’ve already had my first official fish taco as my first meal when we arrived but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be my last 🙂

The camera settings for this image is 1/200th of a second at F5.6 and ISO 200 with my Sony a7II and 28-70mm lens.