ANGELA B. PAN

You know me, I love a good colorful sunrise and I think the best ones happen in the winter time. It must be something about the cold air that mixes with the clouds or something but some of my favorite images are usually in cold environments. That, and it’s probably easier to capture a winter sunrise because it’s later in the day (but harder to get out bed).

So I captured this image on the same morning as this image. The early morning color did not fill up the entire sky. It really was just a portion but I’m glad I had my 70-200mm to really zoom in on the most interesting part. Judging by this image, you could never tell. I really like how the streaks in the clouds are intersected by the Washington Monument but is it me or is it giving off a creepy vibe? It sort of feels like the two red lights on top of the Monument sort of look like evil eyes. Right? You see it? LOL It doesn’t help that the light is all behind the Washington Monument and making it look darker than it actually is. Maybe I should have saved this image for Halloween 🙂

Fun fact: Did you know the Washington Monument is the only monument in Washington DC? Everything else is a memorial. Funny right? I never realized until my friend, Birch mentioned it to me a little while ago. Now I can’t get it out of my head.

Anyways, I’m back home from Las Vegas and had an amazing, fun weekend with my family. Looking forward to going through all the images and sharing them with you 🙂

My camera settings for this image is F5.0 at 1/8th sec at ISO 2500 with my Canon 5D Mark II with my 70-200mm lens.

It may seem a little premature, but I’ve already started thinking about updates I need to do for my Washington DC Cherry Blossom guide. I definietly want to make it a habit to update it every year, especially as the spring season approaches. So the other day while I was going through some of my older images and I came across some from the National Gallery of Art.

Although there aren’t as many cherry blossom trees there and they are significantly skinnier, these are some of my favorites in the city. The reason being that when you go, you’re usually the only one with these blossoms and I just love the backdrop. The National Gallery of Art is such a beautiful building all on it’s own but when you combine that with the cherry blossom trees. Um can you say, magic? LOL. That may be exaggerating a little but I love shooting there. Last year may have been my third year in a row but it honestly never disappoints.

For this image I really wanted to keep this one with a monochrome look. Nothing too dramatic or standout-ish. Just a simple image of beautiful flowers with a simple background. Visiting the National Gallery of Art is probably one of the only ways to accomplish something like that. With all the people around the cherry blossoms, the trees being so close to each other and just the way they are planted, it would be very difficult to do the same at the Tidal Basin. Unless of course, you’re shooting in fog *heart eye emoji*

So if you have any questions about the cherry blossoms around the Washington DC area, please let me know. It will definietly help me update the cherry blossom guide.

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 0.4 sec and ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

On a cold, cloudless morning I found myself walking around the US Capitol. I didn’t really have any ideas of what I wanted to capture, I was sort of letting the light guide me. Well, it took me right to the front of the Capitol Reflecting Pool. It’s not a surprise to see a lot of birds or ducks wading in the pool. It’s also not a surprise to see the water a little choppy. But what really drew me to capturing the scene was the amazing orange glow that was coming from the Washington Monument from the early morning sun and reflecting in the water.

I love it. I love how the early morning colors sort of look like a pastel painting towards the top of the pool. I love how the birds are breaking up the abstractness but also all lined up in a row. But I also love the mystery of that orange line, directly in the middle of the image. Something about it really draws me in.

In other news, tomorrow morning I’ll be hopping on a flight to Las Vegas for the weekend. I’m really looking forward to it since I have so many memories of the city. When I was young, my mom and I would go every year to visit my aunt and her family. I used to love going to Circus Circus and play all the games but the best was escaping the Vegas heat and sliding down water slides with my cousins at Wet n Wild. This weekend will be fun because it’s for a family wedding and it will be such a mini family reunion. Looking forward to seeing my family and hopefully being able to sneak away for a little bit and take some pics 🙂

My camera settings for this image is f4 at 1/1600 sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm lens.

Happy Valentine’s Day! <3 I’ve been holding on to this image since last summer a for a day like today. I wanted to wait for the right time to share it because I love the way that it turned out. I captured it when I first got my 70-200mm lens and was just walking around the reflecting pool to try to capture some different types of images. The purple tones of the sky and environment goes so nicely with the outfits these gentlemen are wearing. It’s as if I planned the photoshoot myself. LOL.

Anyways, hope you all have a great day today. Andrew and I will be having a quiet night in. We never really go all out for Valentine’s day. Just an evening together is the best way to celebrate. And chocolate. I hope there will be chocolate tonight. LOL. What are your plans?

Be sure to check out the blog tomorrow. I have some really exciting news that I’ll be sharing and I hope some of you guys will be as excited about it as I am.

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/200th sec at ISO 1600 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

Love is Love.

I could not sleep Friday night. For some reason I woke up in the middle of the night so hot and of course I couldn’t fall back to sleep. So I decided to make my way over to the Reflecting Pool for sunrise. If was going to be up, I may as well as make it productive, right?

Turns out the sunrise on Saturday morning was a beautiful one. This image was taken when I first arrived at the pool. I was there about 30 minutes before the actual sunrise and as the sun was coming up, it created these beautiful tones and colors in the sky. I particularly like how the streaks in the sky match the streaks in the water. It makes for an interesting reflection and sort of reminds me of a line painting. As the morning went on, the colors in the sky became more and more vibrant.

So glad I didn’t miss it but the best surprise part about it was running into a whole bunch of photography friends so early in the morning. It was the best way to start the day with so many hugs and smiling faces.  Aww it makes me so happy to just think about it.

My camera settings for this image is F5.0 at 1/8th sec at ISO 2500 with my Canon 5D Mark II with my 17-40mm wide angle lens.

PS some people have been asking why I’ve been shooting with my Canon. Well it’s because my Sony is back in the shot. Long story but it got wet again while we were in San Diego. For the most part it was working fine but I just wanted to send it in for little tune up before more travel. Hope to get it back by the end of this week 🙂

This image was taken a week ago at the DCTography photo walk at sunset. It was one of the only images I was able to capture because I was having too much fun catching up with friends to actually take pictures. LOL.

It looks deceiving but the day was actually really nice – weatherwise. It had snowed all day the day before but the day of our walk felt like summer compared to the cold weather we had during the week prior. I think it worked out great because the icey Tidal Basin made for some really cool images plus the sunset itself was fantastic!

But this image captures one of my favorite trees at the Tidal Basin. I photograph it every year, but I don’t think I’ve ever put one of the images on the blog until now. This one tree is special. I think it got hit by a lightning bolt or something like that years ago. Please correct me if I’m wrong. But if you compared it to the other trees around the Basin, it doesn’t even look like it should still be alive because it’s so small. But every year it sprouts the beautiful cherry blossoms on it’s little branches and it makes me so happy that it’s still doing so well.

To be honest, I usually wouldn’t post something like this. My preference is to have clean, untouched snow but there was something about all the footprints that are circling this tree that makes me feel like I’m not the only one who loves it. Other people must be walking around it admiring it from every angle just like me. I also like how you can barely tell where the sidewalk ends and where the water begins just because there’s that much snow on the ground.

My camera settings for this image is F8 at 1/30th sec ISO 1000 with my Canon 5D Mark II and 70-200mm zoom.