ANGELA B. PAN

The main reading room in the Library of Congress is only open to the public on two days out of the entire year. Once on President’s Day and the other on Columbus Day. So I took advantage of this 3 day weekend to try to visit it as soon as it opened. I ended up showing up about 30 minutes early and I was shocked to see that there was a huge line from the front door, going all the way down to the steps. I guess I wasn’t the only one who had the idea to show up early.

It was great though. I ended up running into a bunch of friends while I was wandering around the library. More images coming soon.

But this image was captured when I was standing on the second floor. You can’t really tell in this image, but right below is a staircase that leads you to an elevated view of the reading room. This is where you would go to see it on all the other days if you aren’t a student or government official.

My camera settings for this image are F5.6 at 1/25th sec and ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide-angle lens.

Since I’ve been out photographing the sunset and night so much, I found myself craving a morning in Washington DC. There’s something about the early mornings where it’s so quiet and peaceful, you really get to appreciate the city that you live in. Or at least, that’s how I feel.

So one morning I found myself by the US Capitol and in an effort to photograph something different, I spent a lot of time around the Library of Congress. I’ve mentioned many times before how the Library is my favorite interior in the entire city, but the exterior is beautiful all on its own. This particular composition struck me because of all the layers. I love how the staircases divide the image but I also love the little splashes of green. Everything is just lined up so nicely in this image. The best part is that the city is such a healthy city, that it doesn’t take a long time to wait for a runner to run by your shot 🙂

PS I love how if you peek through the windows on top of this image, you can kinda see what it looks like on the inside. LOL Can you tell I was proud of myself when I captured this? HAHA

My camera settings for this image is F6.3 at 1/200th sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm.

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.

How can anyone get sick of this place? No matter how many times I go, it’s still just as exciting and beautiful as the first time.

I’ve been kinda distracted lately. A lot of things going on and I’m juggling them all at once. Needless to say, June is going to be a super fun month. I can’t wait!!

Probably one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. Most definitely the prettiest interior of DC.