ANGELA B. PAN

I had the pleasure of getting a sneak peak of the Freer and Sackler gallery before the reopening in early October. Shout out to IGDC for the amazing invite. It was so cool to see all the beginning stages of the museum. I say the beginning stages because it is currently under reconstruction and some of the exhibits had been taken down. So it was interesting to see the ‘before’.

You can’t tell from this image, but one of my favorite parts was all the natural lighting. The museum is shaped like a square with an inner courtyard in the middle. All the hallways have these amazing windows that lets you look out to the center. The coolest part is that it even housed peacocks at one point! I would have loved to see them. Hence, the peacock room! We got to see it with the windows opened which brought in this amazing light. I’ll have to share an image of it later. But if you get a chance to see the museum when it reopens, definietly check it out. It was very beautiful and all the gold gave me the chills.

One interesting fact that I will always remember is that though it is a predominately asian art museum (with a little bit of American sprinkled in), the architecture is Italian Palazzo. This was because Charles Freer, the museum’s designer stopped in Italy on his way to Asia. He was heavily influenced by the asian cultures but wanted to incorporate the Italian architecture. I think marrying these two cultures was such a unique idea. If you walk around the museum, make sure to be looking up as well. The ceilings and arches are beautiful!

It was my first time visiting this museum and as you can see, I really enjoyed it. I can’t wait to visit again when it reopens. The image of the staircase was just a small detail but loved the texture and lines that it formed.

So excited it’s Friday! YES!  This weekend is going to be so fun. I get to spend it with some of my best girlfriends and then Andrew and I will be going to New York. We’ll be gone for most of the week next week and it seriously couldn’t have come at a better time. Time to refresh and enjoy the views 🙂 If you have any photo recommendations, let me know. I’d love to get on to some rooftops while we’re there.

But speaking of views, I love this one. I photograph DC a lot. Sometimes it can be difficult to come up with new and original compositions. Either other people have done it before or I have. The key for me is to walk in different directions, in different environments, and go frequently. This is probably something I’ve captured before during cherry blossom season or something like that, but on this particular morning it was foggy. Taken just 20 minutes after this image, you can really see how drastically the sky changes. But with the fog and the green leaves on the trees, it looked completely different to me. It was very muted and so quite. I love that branch that looks like it’s slicing the Jefferson Memorial and it’s reflection in half. It’s probably my favorite part. At first I was unsure about the puddle on the sidewalk, if it was really necessary or if I even liked it. But the more I look at it, the more I felt like it tells the complete picture. It tells the whole story of what it was like being there. The entire morning I was dodging giant puddles like this all around the tidal basin.

My camera settings for this image was F/6.3 at 1/6th of a second and ISO 200 handheld.

So do you remember how last week I was saying how I needed to bring my macro lens out when its raining? I did it! It rained again and my very first stop was to go back to the US Botanical Gardens. Even though it was already closed and I wasn’t able to go inside, I was still able to walk around the front entrance. There were a couple of succulent display and they were already beautiful as is. But my favorite part was how the water droplets didn’t go inside the succulents or get soaked up by them, they were just floating on top. It was so beautiful. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such well formed water droplets as I had on these succulents. This is why I needed my macro lens. There was no way I would have been able to capture all these little details with just my wide angle or even zoom.

But to be honest, I still haven’t fully switched to sony lenses. I was still using my 100mm canon lens with my metabones adaptor. It definietly slowed down the process as I was trying to make sure everything that I wanted to be in focus was sharp but I don’t know if that’s necessary a bad thing. I took my time and was happy with the outcome. I haven’t shot macro in so long and I’m happy to be dusting it off again. Soon enough I’ll get a macro sony lens. If you have any recommendations, let me know!

The settings for this image was F9 at 1/80th of a second and ISO 800 handheld. It was still cloudy from the storm and getting that close up was difficult. I had to bump up my ISO to make sure the exposure was fast enough.

As far as photography goes, summer is my favorite because of the storms. We can get some pretty serious storm rain here in the DC area but the great part about them is that they don’t last too long. Usually about 30 minutes which is perfect! The best is when they end right around sunset. Man the skies open up and all this light comes through. It’s so beautiful.

Last week was no exception. Not only did we have amazing fog, but we got a crazy down pour of rain that ended right before sunset. It was everything that I wish for. But for some reason, I could not figure out where I wanted to go shoot. I was being indecisive driving around when I finally saw the back of the Lincoln Memorial. Skrrrch. Stop right there. The light that was being casted on the columns was so pretty and warm. Luckily I found the very first parking spot open on the Arlington Memorial bridge and rushed toward the memorial. Then I got stopped in my tracks when I noticed this puddle on the sidewalk. It was a perfect reflection of the memorial as well as the light that was being casted. I’m pretty sure I got a lot of crazy looks by the cars that were driving past, but it doesn’t matter. I was so excited to capture one. And on my first try! I was so surprised how well everything lined up.

My camera settings for this image was F/4.0 at 5 seconds ISO 160 handheld. The only reason I shot this handheld was because I couldn’t get low enough on my tripod to get the majority of the reflection. Plus with my really right stuff tripod bracket, it made it easy to hold it up without my camera getting wet.

It’s what everyone’s talking about and I’m still undecided if I want to shoot the solar eclipse on Monday. There are several reasons why but one of the biggest ones is that we’ll only be able to see a partial eclipse from the DC Metro area. Unfortunately we’re not in line with where total eclipse will be taking place. So I’m still undecided if I even want to try. I’m not even sure if I will even have the right equipment for it. Theres just so much hype surrounding the eclipse. It’s difficult to not fall into the trap. I may just try my best with what I have and if it turns out, then it turns out. Don’t be upset if I don’t get anything 🙂

Anyways, here’s a pretty image of the Washington Monument at sunset to distract you from all the eclipse talk. HAHA.

I love shooting the monument at sunset. If you’re there at the right time when the sun in shining directly on the monument, then it turns these amazing colors of red and orange. It’s like a sword in the sky with how powerful it looks. It’s absolutely breathtaking in real life. And to capture it with all these trees as framing was an added bonus. The Washington Monument is truly different at all times of the day. You just have to be aware of what you are witnessing.

The settings for this image was F6.3 at 1/80th of a second at ISO 25o handheld.

Hope you all have a great weekend. And if you’re planning on shooting the eclipse, best of luck to you! Tell me where you’re shooting from and send me your shots. I’d love to see them! May your day be filled with clear skies and plenty of space on your memory card!

Before the National Museum of African American History and Culture opened, the National Museum of American Indian used to be the museum in Washington DC that was rated with the best food. It is also the only reason why I’d ever been to the museum. For the food. Try the fry bread! Yummm.

But over the weekend last week, Andrew and I found ourselves in the city with some time to kill. Luckily, I’ve started to get into this habit where I’ll bring my camera wherever I go. I used to leave it home and only take it out whenever I knew I was shooting. Lately, I’ll take it out whenever I know I’ll be out of the house for a while. You never know when a photo opportunity will hit! So I had my camera in hand and we headed over to the National Mall. By luck would have it, the parking spot we found was closest to the National Museum of American Indian, so we decided to go in.

Man, was I really missing out by heading straight to the cafeteria and not looking around. The architecture inside and out is beautiful and the exhibits were interesting. We didn’t get to see it all but enough so that I’d want to come back and spend more time here. I feel like a majority of the time, I was just looking up. I was excited to go to the top floor and check out what the ceiling looked like from every level. Is that weird? It sort of reminds me so much of the New York City Oculus.

Anyways, if this was brand new to me, I’m sure there are many more interiors that I’m missing out on in DC. Looking forward to checking out more. If you have any recommendations, let me know!