ANGELA B. PAN

Before we left to Orlando, I had an itchy throat. I spent most of last week in bed when we got back. I’m not sure if it was the flu or not. We don’t actually own a thermometer but it was horrible to say the least. I have no idea what happened last Tuesday because I slept through it all. But I started to feel a lot better on Saturday and even better on Sunday. Funny how I was good to go by the weekend 🙂

Anyways, we got some pretty decent snow on Saturday. It didn’t stick for too long but I knew I wanted to go out on Sunday morning to shoot the sunrise. Usually when we get crazy weather like we did on Saturday, the sunrise on the next day will be just as crazy. And it was!!! It felt so good to be outside again. I met up with my friend, Birch and spent the morning walking around the Lincoln Memorial and National Mall.

It was sort of foggy and hazy but it was going in and out as well. I don’t know, its really hard to describe because it was weather like I’ve never seen before. But if I had to use one word to describe it, I’d call it “beautifuuullll” because it created this amazing glow. The best of the best glow was down the line of trees that run along side the Reflecting Pool. I love how it enclosed all the light at the end of the “tunnel”. I also really like how the World War II memorial is at the end of this walkway but you can barely make it out. Seriously this city looks so different everyday.

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/100th of a second and ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and Birch’s 70-200mm lens because I didn’t have mine with me 🙂

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 🙂

This was definitely one of my favorite days of 2017! Obviously Washington DC is famous for it’s cherry blossoms in the spring time but this past season was sooo unique. We had a crazy warm winter which lead to a weird snow that we got in March. It was so unexpected and out of nowhere. Everybody was so confused by it, including the cherry blossoms! They had already started to bloom and all the weathermen in the area were saying how this year’s cherry blossoms weren’t going to be doing too well.

They were right and they were wrong. A lot of the trees still peaked but some trees were complete duds. The flowers themselves weren’t as vibrant as they usually are. Which was totally fine by me because I think that also mislead a lot of people and they all decided to just skip the blooms this year. It was purrrfect.

So this was taken on a particularly foggy morning where you could barely see 10ft in front of you. It was soooo awesome and so much fun to photograph. I was probably out for 4 hours or something like that just photographing the flowers. The best part was that there was barely anyone there! Usually this place would be packed. I was in a photographer’s dreamland.

My favorite part of this image is seeing the slight reflection in the tidal basin water. It’s crazy to think that just right behind that branch is the Washington Monument which is totally covered by the fog. I usually use it as a point of reference because it’s so tall but you couldn’t even see it with your naked eye. It was bananas. And I love bananas. LOL

The settings for this image is F6.3 at 1/40th of a second and ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm lens.

Ok so I couldn’t say that White Sands National Monument in New Mexico was my favorite place I traveled to this past year because I LOVEDDDD Colorado. Colorado as a whole is amazing. I felt like every turn we made was something even more beautiful on the other side. I’m pretty sure I said “wow” about a million times. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to spend more time there in 2018. Theres something about those snow capped mountains that gets me so excited.

And among all the beautiful places in the Centennial state is Rocky Mountain National Park. Unfortunately there were parts of the park that was closed due to snow while we were there but still really enjoyed the park in general. That’s just another reason to go back right? This was image was taken on our first sunset there. We arrived to our walk early which meant we were able to take our time and take in beautiful views like this.

But it can be difficult at times finding balance. Photographers, let me know if you feel this way too. Usually when I’m out I feel some sort of pressure to find the right composition with the right lighting and to keep it moving so I don’t always end up with the same shots. But with all of that going on in your head, when do you find the time to just stop and enjoy the sunset? I’ve even heard of photographers saying that the only way they could really enjoy the sunset is just leaving the camera at home. I don’t agree. I think having your camera enhances the experience but there does need to be some sort of balance.

If you want to see more from our adventure, watch this youtube video. Shoutout to cheetos for being so delicious 🙂

My camera settings for this image is f/9 at 1/640th of a second at ISO 640 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

I did not take this image this past snow that we got. I took it a couple of years ago but still really, really enjoy it and figured why not post it? Theres something so peaceful and serene about it. I especially like looking at that platform in the middle of the water and envisioning so much summer fun happening there with floaties and belly flops. Definietly not winter fun. Or at least that’s not my idea of winter fun LOL.

As I was editing this image in Photoshop, I was wondering if I should leave that little bit of yellowish colored grass showing on the right hand of the image. It’s not the most attractive looking grass but in the end, I decided to leave it. Its only a small amount but I love how it shows that this is actually a color image and not black and white. It’s a little detail that could be distracting but I think it tells so much more of the story of what it’s actually like being at this lake.

I also love seeing all the curves in the lake and if you look closely enough, you’ll even see a house or two. This is taken at a neighborhood lake in McLean, Virginia but if you asked me, it looks like it was taken straight out of a movie like Frozen or something. I dunno, I just can’t keep my eyes off of it. I love it so much. I could totally see myself sitting on that grass and staring at this scene for hours. It’d be awesome if I could fly my drone here too. Ohh the possibilities.

My camera settings for this image is F6.3 at 1/160th of a second and ISO 250 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle.

After our first snow of the season, I knew I had to wake up early the next morning and capture the sunrise. Somehow I knew it was going to be a good one. We had 2 days of really grey days so I knew the clouds were going to have to break up and bring in some of the sun light.

But this was not the image I intended to capture. I had every intention of shooting at the Tidal Basin. I thought it would be cool to see how the water did in the snow. Did it freeze over? or was there any snow still on the cherry blossom trees? I dunno. I wasn’t able to drive over there since all the roads around the National Mall was blocked off. I’m not sure why, but I’m thinking it was for some kind of parade or marathon. I’ve tried googling it and still can’t find the answer. Oh well.

So I drove over to the Capitol and figured it would be just as nice. I spent the morning just walking all around the Capitol grounds, blasting my music with no headphones. LOL it was awesome. There was hardly anyone around and it felt like I had the whole Capitol to myself. I felt so free to just walk anywhere I wanted to and was so happy when I stumbled onto this compass. I’ve noticed it before but never saw how reflective it is. I guess the melting snow made for great puddles in here. Love finding hidden gems like this. One thing I didn’t notice while taking this picture was the guy walking in front of the Capitol building. I love how he adds some scale to the whole thing. Yea, the US Capitol building is hugeeee.

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/80th of a second ISO 160 with my Sony A7II 16-35mm wide angle lens.