ANGELA B. PAN

Going through some of my older images, I ran across this one. It is funny that I remember the exact day that I took it too. It’s the same day I took this image. You can’t see the sky or the sunrise as clear in the previous image but this is what it looked like from behind the peepholes. Pretty cool!

I also remember thinking that this particular day wasn’t going to be that great for sunrise. I arrived a little early and it looked like it was going to be too cloudy to have any kind of color. It’s ok, it happens sometimes. I figured I would just take the time to go out and try to find some new, interesting compositions and save them for when the sky was looking just right. By the way, the previous image was my “new and interesting composition” 🙂 Fortunately for me, I was wrong about the sunrise. The sky turned out to be way better than expected and I really love how this image turned out. I feel like theres every color of the rainbow represented in this image which makes me even happier to look at it. Even though I’ve shot this same scene a hundred times, I do not ever get bored of it. Its such a classic Washington DC shot and the reflection from the tidal basin is perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start the day than this.

The settings for this image was F22 at 0.8 seconds and ISO 80 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm lens. Sorry I don’t remember if this was shot on a tripod or not. Knowing me it probably wasn’t. I was probably just using the ledge of the pedestrian bridge as a sturdy surface and hoping for the best.

Like I said yesterday, the fog that we had over the weekend was RIDICULOUS. And what was even weirder was the fact that it was raining while it was still so foggy out. I thought with the rain coming down that it will make the fog disappear. If you look closely at this image, you can even see the water droplets in the water. But no. At times it seemed like it got even foggier. We had a good 2 hours worth of this moody weather to photograph and I loved every minute of it. I was so excited to hear about it that I left the house without a jacket. Luckily I had a beanie in the car or else I would have been really out of luck. Thanks again to my my friend, Birch for telling me about it as it was happening.

I think my favorite part of this image is something I did unintentionally. If you look at the very right of the image there’s a tree bending like it’s trying to leave the image. I love how the person with the umbrella lines up directly with that tree trunk. I don’t know if anyone else wold notice it but I love that little detail that just accidentally happened.

Birch and I were talking about something unrelated to the scene that was happening in front of us but we were both shooting it at exactly the same time. As that person turned the corner, we stopped what we were doing and saying, looked at each other and said “that was awesome” like we both knew we got the shot! AHHH I LOVE IT WHEN THAT HAPPENS!

My camera settings for this image is F4.5 at 1/400th of a second at ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and my 16-35mm wide angle lens handheld.

Like I said before, I showed up to the Women’s March pretty early last week. I live really close to a metro stop and I just remember the huge lines that were coming out of the metro last year for the walk. So this year, I wanted to make sure I didn’t have wait in any of those lines. But I arrived so early that I had time to walk around the Tidal Basin.

My original plan was just to check out what the ice looked like over the water but as I was approaching, I felt inspired to take pictures of the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial. The way that the sun was just above it, creating these shadows made it look so epic. This is the view from behind the memorial. I took similar shots from in front, but I just liked the way this one looked better. The way that its simplified to this one little opening is very interesting to me. I think I want to keep this image in mind and keep on working at it. I know I could make something really cool out of it on a beautiful sunrise day.

It being the day of the women’s march and just walking around the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial felt right. He has several famous quotes around the memorial but this one was perfect for the day, “Make a career of humanity, commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a great person of yourself, a great nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.” Thank you so much for that Dr. King. I just got the chills.

The camera settings for this image is F22 at 1/200th of a second at ISO 160 with my Sony A7II and my 28-70mm lens.

Flip flopping between Washington and California images. I hope that’s ok. Even though I still have so many images to go through from California, I still get the urge to go out and shoot. Especially when we get snow like we did last week! It wasn’t much and to be honest it was kind of disappointing. It was pretty patchy and kind of weird. I think we just needed more. Somehow we ended up in a snow hole where everyone around us got snow and we barely got an inch 🙁

But I was still able to make it out with my friend, Paul. We walked all around the National Mall and I was trying to find some new, interesting compositions that you can only see in the snow. I love how snow changes a scene. For this image, I was all the way tucked into a little tree cove but I think the most interesting part of this image are the lights coming from the street. It sort of reminds me of morse code. Like the cars and street lights are saying, “more snow, more snow”.

My only wish for the rest of winter is that we get one really good day of snow and I’d be happy. Then it can all melt away and I will run with my arms wide open to welcome in spring. Cherry Blossoms, where you at?

My settings for this image is F8 at 1/5th of a second at ISO 1000 on my Sony A7II with my 16-35mm lens on a tripod. To be honest, I think I was shooting handheld for a little bit before I set my camera on the tripod. I must have forgotten to change the ISO so that’s the only reason why my ISO is so high. Oh well, it still works 🙂

We left to California at the right time. As soon as we left, Washington DC experienced a serious cold snap. My parents and friends were texting saying how they were going to come find us in San Diego because it was just so back home. I’m talking single digits with wind on some days. I felt so bad for them while I was sitting on our Airbnb’s patio staring at orange trees in 75 degree weather. LOL.

But in all honesty, I was a little jealous. With extreme weather like that you’re going to get some awesome pics. I saw so many of my instagram friends posting some really unique images like people walking on the frozen reflecting pool. What the what? I want to walk on the reflecting pool! That looks so cool. I even saw someone riding a bike and ice skating on the reflecting pool. That’s crazy! If I had ice skates, I’d be allllll about that. Triple axels and everything! HAHA JK. The most I can do is go backwards.

It’s all good though.

So when we got back, I was really hoping to get a little taste of it. I woke up yesterday knowing that my first sunrise back in DC had to be the Reflecting Pool. When I arrived, I was so excited to see all the ice chunks but I didn’t dare step on it because I wasn’t sure if it was still safe or not. Look at me being all cautious in the new year. LOL.

My camera settings for this image is F10 at 2 seconds and ISO 250 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm lens on my gitzo tripod.

PS Every time I write “LOL” its because I’m really just making myself laugh while writing blog posts. Let me know if I should stop doing that because I think I’m funny so…

Even though it was Christmas Eve, I still wanted to go out and capture the sunrise. On this particular morning the sunrise was beautiful but very fleeting. The colors in the sky only lasted for a couple of minutes and then went away. So I figured I would walk around more and see what else I could find. Luckily, my family didn’t have plans of getting together until lunch so I had time to wonder.

I’ve mentioned this before on the blog, but I am constantly moving and walking while I am out taking pictures. I honestly feel like there is nothing worse then going home with a memory card full of the same images. I can understand if you’re standing in the same spot and sky is changing or something like that but I really like to capture a scene and then keep it moving to find a different or even a better composition. So while I was wondering around, I found these cherry blossom branches that perfectly framed the Jefferson Memorial. I mean seriously, could it be any more perfect? *In my Chandler Bing voice*

My favorite part of this image is how cold it feels. Yes, it was a cold day but I think the blue sky and the blue water help exaggerate the feeling along with the bare branches. This image was obviously taken in the winter time. And just like this previous tidal basin image, I really like how the clouds are mimicking the branches. It definietly adds to the framing and repetition of the image.

My camera settings for this image is 0.4 seconds at F22 and ISO 80 with my Sony A7II 16-35mm. You may or not be impressed that this was handheld, no tripods. When I read my camera settings, I was impressed… so….