ANGELA B. PAN

A couple of blog posts ago, I talked about my favorite place in Iceland, Höfn. (If you haven’t checked it out yet, click here) It’s located about 5 to 6 hours away from Reykjavik so there were a lot of stops along the way. One of the best “road side attractions” was Jökulsálón lagoon. The only reason why I called it a “road side attraction” was because it’s right off the main road and you can’t miss it! It’s this humungous lake at the edge of Vatnajökul National park where pieces of Vatnajökul glacier break off. If you look at a world map and see Iceland, you’ll see how theres one huge glacier on the south east side of the island. That’s Vatnajökul glacier.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen something so cool. Literally. As soon as we parked the car, I hopped out with my camera ready. I was so mesmerized by these glaciers that I didn’t want to waste a second. Just the whole experience made it seem like you were on a different planet. I mean you can see the top of the icebergs, but I can’t even imagine whats underneath. How big these icebergs really are and how long they’ve been in this water. And if the icebergs were so big, how freakin’ big is that glacier? Man, I can’t even imagine.

Right across the street you go to Diamond beach and a lot of these icebergs have washed up to land and they are gigantic. So many of them were taller than me. I had a lot of fun climbing on them, running my hands (with gloves on) on them, and just taking note of all the beautiful blues I was seeing. It was so tempting to say “Icebergs right ahead”. I tried my best not to say it but I think it slipped out once.

This is kind of a funny story. So lately when I’ll go to shoot the Lincoln Memorial at sunrise, I’ll park on the Arlington Memorial Bridge. It’s as close as you can get so early in the morning but you usually have to park kind of far down the bridge because there will always be cars that got there before you. So I’m walking along the bridge. I’ll stop and take some pictures of the water or something like that. You know, just takin’ my time and enjoying the morning views. Then at the very beginning of the bridge, I see this amazing puddle by the curb. I immediately crotched down to the sidewalk to to see if could get a better reflection of the Lincoln Memorial and see this beautiful shot of the memorial and Washington Monument all in one. Then I looked to make sure no cars were coming so I could stand in the street for a better view point. Luckily the parked cars were there to block me from the oncoming cars and I was able to capture the composition I was looking for. So I’m still crouching down and contorting my body in all these weird angles so that my tripod could balance on the sidewalk/road, I take the shot. I was really happy and so excited to have captured it because it was timed perfectly with oncoming cars providing these amazing light trails. But then when I was finally done, I stood up, turned around and looked in the parked car that was right behind me. There was someone sitting there the whole time! OMG He got a fabulous view of my butt the entire time. LOL. Who knows what he thought I was doing. But I can imagine the weird looks he was giving me the whole time while I was trying to set up.

This is going to be a 3 part series that will be going on my blog for the next 3 days. Why 3 days? Because I shot so many images this year and I love them all but I can’t choose one absolute favorite. I think I ended up with at least 30 absolute favorites. It’s like how do you choose your favorite pizza delivery place? Who knows! They’re all so great, delicious and you like them all for different reasons. That’s the same thing with this!

Part 1: Travel

So here are my 10 favorite images from travel in 2016. I am SO lucky that I was able to travel to Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean this past year. Like is this really my life?

In order of when I visited these amazing places, here are my favorite travel images of 2016. Woop Woop!
Click the image to find the original blog post and the story behind it.

The electronic Super Store in Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan. You could spend hours in this one place and I think I did. Obviously, most of my time was spent on the photography floor. Yes, that’s right. A whole floor devoted to photography!

One of my favorite places in the city of Tokyo, Shinjuku Gyoen. I love all the variations of green in this image.

This image definietly took a lot of patience. It was that decisive moment that Henri Cartier-Bresson talks about.

The contrast of these two bikes in Tokyo cracks me up. I can imagine these two riding down the road together having the best time.

OMG Can we please go back? St John was like heaven on earth.

This was taken at the resort we were staying at, Margaritaville. I didn’t have any margaritas but I had plenty of vodka. They should change the name to Vodkaville 🙂

YES to all the above

In August, Andrew and I spent a long weekend in Ft Lauderdale. It was a great end of summer get away.

Oh Snap! Don’t you love it when big buses pass you by while taking a long exposure. They always create the coolest lines with their lights.

La Sagrada Familia: The most awe-inspiring interior I’ve ever seen. My girlfriends and I made a pact to come back to Barcelona in 10 years when to see this place when  it’s all complete.

So there it is. My top 10 travel images for 2016. What did you guys think? Come back to the blog for the next two days for more of my favorites.

A guide for any level of photographer. All of my personal favorites.

Practical gifts
1. These Rocket Air Blaster:  are pretty awesome. They blow out air but won’t suck it back in. Awesome to clean those little dust spots on lenses or mirrors. I have 2.
2. SD Cards  So simple, yet so necessary. You can’t get more practical than that.
3. Domke Protective Wrap makes it super easy to take your camera or lenses on the go and keep them protected.
4. When I travel I like to keep all my cords and electronic things together. This Travel Electronic Organizer  is perfect.
5. It’s important to stay hydrated and comfortable while out shooting. The Swell Water Bottle will help keep your water tasty.
6. Gorilla pod tripods are cool because they can support the weight of DSLRS but I’d still be a little careful with it depending on the lens. Super fun to get creative angles with this.

Fun gifts

7. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert is about you and your creativity. 5 stars. Highly recommended.
8. These Personalized Greeting Cards by Moo are such great quality. I mean the paper is so nice and thick plus they have lots of other great personalized gifts.
9. I love this JBL Speaker. I listen to it all the time while editing my images and blast it when I’m in the shower.
10. Another essential to keeping comfortable while taking pictures. These Rainboots are comfortable to walk in all day.
11. Fujifilm Instax Printer I have S-1 but the S-2 looks even cooler. I love being able to take pictures on my phone but print them out on this Polaroid film.