ANGELA B. PAN

Almost two weeks ago, I attend my first Creative Morning. If you don’t know about it, I highly suggest signing up for their newsletter to get more information. But it’s basically a monthly networking and speaking event for any type of creative. It was a great time.

The DC chapter seems to have them in a variety of different locations. The one that I went to happened at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. So after the event was done, I took a little bit of time to go around the museum with a few friends. It’s crazy to say but I haven’t been since the media preview from before it opened to the public. I’m glad to have revisited it.

This image is of my friend, Dave. We asked him to go to the middle of the staircase to pose, but once he got to the middle he was trying to communicate with us that the wall actually goes up taller and we wouldn’t be able to see him. It was a funny moment to see him try to explain why he couldn’t go any further when all of us were on the floor pointing to the right from him to go further.

My camera settings for this image are F5.6 at 1/125th sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide-angle lens.

On particularly sunny days, just after the sunrises be sure to look at the Lincoln Memorial. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but the way that the sun glows on the memorial is probably one of the best things in DC.

And there aren’t too many people who are out at that time of day either. Usually, you will see a few photographers, some Park Police but even more runners. I’ve never actually run on the National Mall but I see a lot of them sprinting up the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial for a final push. This is one of those runners. After running up the stairs, he put his arms behind his head to get a breath of air. I love how his shadow was perfectly aligned with the Lincoln Memorial wall.

My camera settings for this image are F4 at 1/8000th sec and ISO 800 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm.

It’s as if they’re coming right at you! LOL

But the cherry blossoms are coming! It’s so crazy to say because it’s only the beginning of March, but we had such a warm winter season in the Washington DC area that the flowers are expected to bloom in a couple of weeks. I’m pretty sure the National Park Service will be announcing their estimated peak dates soon, and when they do, I’ll be sure to update my guide to the Washington DC Cherry Blossoms.

As for now, I’m just enjoying images I’ve captured in previous years of the blooms.

My camera setting for this image are F5.6 at 1/1600th sec and ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm.

From earlier this year, an image from sunrise at the US Capitol.

I don’t think I’ve shared any other images I’ve captured from this morning. It was one of those mornings where it seemed like nothing was really working quite right. Whenever that happens, I try my best to tell myself that days like this happen and that I’m at least out doing what I love to do. I capture as much as I can and just sit on the images until I’m ready to have a full editing session. Those are the times when I’m excited about editing and feel creative enough to try new things that may have not worked before.

I particularly like this image because I don’t see a lot of images of just the Peace Monument located in front of the US Capitol. I love how the bare branches are framing the monument adding to the mood.

My camera settings for this image are F5 at 1/200th sec and ISO 320 with my Sony A7II and 70-20mm zoom lens.

If you subscribe to my newsletter then you would know that my latest obsession has been my new photo scanner.

What started off as my mom telling me to clean out my old room in my parents’ house now has turned into this side project of collecting old prints and scanning them. Currently, I’m almost done organizing my high school/college pictures and it’s so interesting to see the similarities of my photo work from then to now.

The image above was captured in Taiwan in 2004.

Sunset parade in Washington DC at the Lincoln Memorial by the Marine Barracks

This image was captured at the Lincoln Memorial in 2019. I hadn’t seen the image from Taiwan in over 10 years. I can’t believe the similarities!

It’s also so rewarding having all these images organized and in one place. I love the idea of cleaning out all these prints and making them digital just so I don’t have to worry about a lot of clutter. I’m much more inclined to look at these old images on my phone or computer rather than pulling out old photo albums and looking at them.

So if you haven’t already, you should definitely subscribe to my newsletter too. I try my best to share as much fresh content in the newsletters before I publish them to my blog or social media.

The image from 2019’s camera settings is F6.3 at 1/320th sec and ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens. I have no idea about the 2004 image.

Taken at the same time I captured this image, this was one of the first I captured from that evening.

I love how the tree branches are framing the Washington Monument. It sort of gives the whole image a creepy feeling.

I’ve heard some people say that they don’t like photographing in the winter for the exact reason, but I think photographing the trees with bare branches gives it a totally different mood that can be beautiful as well. What do you think?

Obviously photographing it in spring or fall would give it more color, but you may not be able to see the framing because of all the leaves.

My camera settings for this image are F7.1 at 2 secs at ISO 250 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide-angle lens on a tripod.