ANGELA B. PAN

There’s always room for firsts and I had my first podcast experience a few weeks ago. Thanks so much to Jason Flakes and Mary Bailey for having me on PhotoStank. I had so much talking about photography, Snap DC and so much more. To be honest, I didn’t want the conversation to end. I was having so much fun. If you’re interested, click here to listen to the episode.

And if you have time, check out the episode’s challenge. I think it’s an interesting one. Use the hashtag #photostankchallenge so I can be sure to see what you have come up with.

Today’s image was taken a couple of weekends ago in Lake Anna, Virginia. It had just stopped raining and was still a bit too cold to go out on the boat for some water fun so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to fly the drone! I love practicing flying as much as I can. I’m still a bit nervous at it but I know the more flying time I get, the better it will be.This birds eye view of the world is such an interesting perspective. And my favorite part of this image is the way that you can see the reflections of the clouds in the water. The trees weren’t looking too bad after the rain either 🙂 I think I’ll be flying my drone a lot more often in the summer. Sunflower fields here I come!

Speaking of flying, my friend Andy just came out with a video about flying drones. If you have one, you should definietly check out this video. I learned so much! Just wish it came out before the trip to Lake Anna so I could have applied some new knowledge I learned.

My camera settings for this image is F2.2 at 1/220th of a second and ISO 100 on my DJI Mavic Pro.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Focus on the Story International Photo Festival for an AMAZING festival. I felt so inspired and grateful the entire weekend. I got to see so many amazing images, watched so many great presentations and best of all hugged so many wonderful photographers. I could not be more thrilled.

Obviously my favorite part of the entire weekend was the photowalk. I am still shocked and so honored that about 70 people showed up on a Saturday morning at 5am to walk around the National Mall. Thank you so much to everyone who came out. I hope you had as much fun as I did.

And I can’t help but smile while I scroll through the #FOTSwalk18 hashtag on instagram. The weather called for partly cloudy skies and we even got a little bit of fog rolling through, it was perfect! There were so many great images and I wish I could post them all! But here are a few:

Special shout out to @chantale1 for the group shot at the beginning of our walk.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjzsHXAA13Z/?tagged=fotswalk18

Lovely long exposure, @rodb_pics

Bennett stole the show, @eugeneksoh! Great portrait, @wvugee

I loveeee this! Thank you so much for capturing this action shot, @geoffliving

Beautiful image of @julwriter, @metroamir. I love the reflection!

Love the mood you captured here, @cborde

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjzsAZjhEDF/?tagged=fotswalk18

Another photowalk, Another blue heron. I’m noticing a pattern. Thanks so much for these amazing captures, @bellasoria.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BjzVoE7h6SJ/?tagged=fotswalk18

GORGEOUS frame, @bellasoria. Wow

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bj0YblWHrkR/?tagged=fotswalk18

Love all repetition in this one, @heatheronthego

Thanks again to everyone who came out. I’m so grateful to have so many talented photographer friends. Be sure to check out the #FOTSwalk18 hashtag to see more images from the walk. And thanks again to Focus on the Story for putting on such an amazing photo festival! I can’t wait for the next one 🙂

Just a little reminder that I’ll be hosting another photowalk tomorrow morning at 5:20a. We’re meeting at the Lincoln Memorial as a part of the Focus on the Story International Photo Festival. We’ll walk around the National Mall, talk photography and cameras, and have a great time! Did I mention there will be donuts?

If you’ve never been to a photowalk before, it’s super casual and super fun. Please come with your smily face on because there’s nothings better than to meet people who have the same interests as you. People who know exactly what you’re talking about and share the same enthusiasm as you. And let’s be honest here. If you’re meeting someone new at 5:20a, you know they’ve got to have the same enthusiasm as you! So set your alarms and I hope to see you tomorrow! If you do come tomorrow, use the hashtag #FOTSwalk18 so everyone can look at each other pics. Just like last time, I’ll share some of my favs on my blog on Monday 🙂

This image was taken earlier this year in the winter before sunrise. I knew I arrived a bit early but it was ok because the blue hour was looking gorgeous. I parked my car and made my way over to the Lincoln Memorial. We got a little bit of snow the day before so the puddles were looking great. I noticed how cool the street lights looked in this particular puddle so I spent sometime with the reflections. My favorite part of the image are the clouds though. It gives that much needed texture in the sky and in the water.

So hope to see you tomorrow! If not, have a great weekend and hope you’re doing something you love to do.

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 0.3 seconds at ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm handheld.

On Monday night before I went to bed, I checked the weather like I always do. It called for fog in the morning so I set my alarm to wake up for sunrise. I didn’t have any real plans of where I was going to go, I just knew I wanted to go somewhere near water. So I figured the reflecting pool would be cool.

I walked around and nothing really was catching my attention so I made my way over to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I figured with all the Memorial day festivities that it may be cool. I was wrong. It was freakin’ amazinggggg. I don’t know why I’ve never done it before.

There were so many flowers, notes, and just little tokens of appreciation to our veterans. I even saw cans of beer. It was one of the most touching displays of affection that I have seen in a very long time. I took the time out to read some of the notes that were left there and I just can’t even imagine what friends and family had to go through during this period of time. I can’t even imagine what the men and women who severed our country had to go through during this time either. I am so grateful for all of their sacrifices. If not for you, I would not have the beautiful life I have today. I have so much respect and gratitude to you, veterans. Veterans of then and veterans now. Thank you.

At the end of the wall were just a whole bunch of American flags. I loved the repetition and how they were reflecting in the memorial. I think the fog really helped to capture the mood too.

My camera settings for this image is F5.0 at 1/200th of a second and ISO 800 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

Man oh Man what a week. A freakin’ awesome week to be more specific! At one point in time Snap DC was #1 on the charts for best selling travel book in the Mid atlantic region! Does that make me a best selling author? AHHH!!!! So crazy. But I believe it’s still number one in new releases in the same category. I seriously can’t say thank you enough! I’m so excited!

This image was taken last Saturday evening after the photowalk. My friend, Zack and I stuck around the Tidal Basin for a little while to see what blue hour would look like and it did not disappoint! At one point in time the sky was doing this thing where you were able to see the shadow of the Washington Monument in the clouds! It was awesome. And in turn you were able to see all of that reflecting in the water.

But the CRAZIEST part about it all was that there were bats flying above us the entire time. WHO KNEW THERE WERE BATS IN WASHINGTON DC? Definietly not me. That was the first time I’d ever seen any. At one point in time I swear there were like 6 flying above us. It was absolutely nuts. I could not stop staring. It was like I was shooting the Washington Monument and holding my camera steady with my hand but my eyes were in the sky following the bats (making sure they weren’t coming close to us). It’s seriously something new everyday at the National Mall. I swear!

Anyways, hope you all have a wonderful Memorial day weekend! Thanks again for all the support with Snap DC. If you have received your copy already, hope you can get out there and take some awesome pictures.

My camera settings for this image is F4.0 at 1/4th of a second and ISO 1600 handheld with my A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

A couple of weeks ago, I announced the first photowalk that I’ll be hosting. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still on and would love to see you all out there but now there’s another photowalk opportunity that’s coming up even sooner. This Saturday evening!

Thank you so much to my friends at IGDC for helping me put this photowalk together. It will be Saturday, May 19th at 6p and we meet on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial. Everyone is welcome! I’ll also be giving away a few copies of Snap DC for the first to arrive. If you’ve never been to a photowalk before I encourage you to say hello to someone you’ve never met. It’s such a great way to meet like-minded people and do something you both enjoy doing. I’ve met so many great friends through the IGDC community. I’m so grateful for their support and can’t be more honored to be photowalk-ing with them. The photowalk is free, super casual, and we’ll be walking around the Tidal Basin until about sunset. Hope you can make it!

This image was taken last week at sunset. The same day as the epic rainbow but about 30 minutes afterward that image was made. Hopefully we’ll get another beautiful sky like this one on the walk. You know one of my favorite things about shooting the Tidal Basin is definietly the reflection that you get in the water. I love how in this image the Jefferson Memorial columns look so wavy. Well definitely be talking about reflections and other photo ideas on the walk so please join us if you can!

My camera settings for this image is F7.1 at 1/50th of a second at ISO 400 with my Sony A7II handheld. As a side note, this is definietly cherry blossom inspired 🙂