ANGELA B. PAN

I don’t know much about clouds. I remember learning about them in middle school but nothing really stuck except for cirrus clouds. But I do like looking at them. And in the past couple of years of photography, I’ve figured out that mammatus clouds are pretty rare but highly sought after. Like the meteorologists go crazy over them. I’m not sure why other than they look super cool so now I’m always on the lookout for them.

These particular clouds came at sunset, right before full moon shooting. We had a pretty significant storm in the afternoon which caused these stunning clouds and color in the sky. Zack and I were going bananas over the color and running all around the National Mall trying to find different angles to capture it.

It just so happened that a bunch of airplanes were flying into Reagan as well. The storm caused a whole bunch of flight delays earlier in the day so I guess when the sky cleared up, the airplanes started coming in as quickly as possible. It seemed like every 5-10 minutes there was another airplane. But can you imagine looking out your window and seeing this? OMG, what I would have done to be one of the passengers on that airplane.

My camera settings for this image is f6.3 at 1/320th sec and ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

It’s been a while since I’ve photographed the World War II Memorial in Washington DC. Sometimes the fountains aren’t on in the mornings and in the evening, it can get really packed with visitors. And especially on hot days, people like to soak their feet in the water. So for a while, I just pretty much skipped the entire memorial and went straight for the Washington Monument or Lincoln Memorial.

But I’m glad I went back!

I was out with my friend, Birch just walking around and talking when she asked if we could stop by the memorial. There had been a shot that she’s been wanting to get but never was able to. Of course, I said yes, so while she was trying to get her shot, I sat down on the steps to capture this one. I loved how the fountains looked like they were right by the Lincoln Memorial but I loved the silhouettes the Lincoln Memorial was helping to create. So I just sat there waiting for the precise moment to capture somebody walking by without too many other people in the foreground. I like the way it came out because there are just so many different layers to look at. And especially if you’re familiar with this memorial, you know there’s at least a good 2,000 ft between the World War II Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/30th sec and ISO 4000 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom.

After taking the image from yesterday’s post, I felt so inspired to take more pictures of the World War II memorial. I think I just realized how much I missed the memorial. So the next day, Andrew and I ended up going out. He wanted to get out of the house so I suggested taking pictures (obviously). We headed to DC around sunset time and just chilled out by the World War II memorial.

I had no idea what I was going to capture here, so I ended up walking around for a little bit when I saw this girl sitting on the bench. Is it just me, or did you just assume that the Memorials would not have electrical outlets? I mean, what? I saw this girl charging her phone and was so confused by it. But I was all for it since she was sitting there so beautifully in her bright pink outfit. She must have sat in that spot for a good 20 minutes. I tried all different compositions to capture her and this one was my favorite.

It’s inspired by one of my favorite photographers, Matt McClain. He works for the Washington Post and just consistently posts such amazing work. I’ve seen him post images of people by the water but the way he frames them is so creative. So while I was sitting by the fountain, I thought I’d give it a try.

My camera settings for this image is F9 at 1/250th sec and ISO 250 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

Confused by what sights to see on your short visit to Washington DC?

There are so many monuments, memorials, and museums. Where do you even start?

If want to know the absolute best of the best things to see in Washington DC, keep on scrolling. This guide is for you!

I’ve lived in the Washington DC area my entire life and in that time I’ve gotten to know the city very well. It has changed so much in the past few years that it may be hard to keep up with all the new and fun things to see. Sometimes I even think it’s hard to keep up with all that is going on. There have been new museums, memorials and points of interest that would be fun for a solo traveler as well as families all at the same time.

So in this guide, I will share some highlights of my favorite sights as a Washington DC native and photographer.

My 7 Favorite Must-See Sights in Washington DC:

Click here to read more

We had a couple of thunderstorm warnings last week but for some reason, none of them really came to be. I’m still on the hunt to capture a lightning strike this summer so I tried my best to get out there to try to capture the weather. But when the actual rain didn’t happen, I was fortunate enough to still be able to at least capture this beautiful sunset.

I love how the colors in the sky are in line with the trees and it just looks like a band of color stretched across the entire image. I will be honest and say that I got rid of some of the people on the left-hand side. Just one small group of people because they were wearing really bright clothes and it was distracting to see them in the dark trees. I wanted to make sure that the focus was entirely on the Lincoln Memorial and the amazing sunset.

Hopefully, the storm warnings we have this week will actually come to be.

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My camera settings for this image is F16 at 1/4th sec and ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide-angle lens.

I captured this image while I was on my way to photograph this image.

This image of the Lincoln Memorial was taken first and I was so surprised when I saw it on the LCD screen. I was walking towards the reflecting pool when I thought it may be cool to see some grass blades as tall as the Lincoln Memorial. So I put my camera on the ground, tilted it a little bit up and this is what I came out with.

What I didn’t realize was all the morning dew that would turn into these cool little bokeh textures in the grass and somehow turned this image to look magical. In order to capture it, I had to focus the image on just Lincoln Memorial. It’s a shame I almost forgot about it. To be honest, I was more excited about the duck capture than this one on the day I captured them. But I love the way that this image turned out. I also love that little hint of purple coming, which you can really see in the duck image.

Just goes to show you never know what you’ll find unless you try 🙂

My camera settings for this image is F6.3 at 1.6 sec and ISO 640 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide-angle lens.