ANGELA B. PAN

This image was taken about 30 minutes after I captured this one. The sun came out and was hitting the trees very nicely. By this point, Andrew and I had driven around Emerald Bay so that we were facing west and the sun was just over my right shoulder.

As I mentioned in my last blog post, Andrew and I woke up really early to capture this image. 4 am west coast time so about 7am east coast time which isn’t so bad if you put it in terms of time zones, however by this point we were already adjusted to the west coast time. When I told my family the night before what time Andrew and I were planning on waking up and to go take pictures, they seemed pretty shocked. To be honest, people in general are shocked when I tell them what time I wake up to go take pictures. If you had told college-age me that I would be waking up that early, I’d be shocked too. But at this point I’m used to it. And when we’re home, Andrew usually wakes up early too. I don’t make him wake up early with me when were traveling but he’s just a good supportive husband who wants to make sure I’ll be ok so he’ll come with me too <3

But it’s funny because soon after we came home from this trip, Andrew and I went to a conference to listen to Robert Herjavec (among other people) speak. He talked about how he’s an early riser just so he can get things done before he has to go to work. Everyone thought he was crazy too. But the funny part of it was when he said people would ask him, “but aren’t you tired?” And then Robert said, “of course I’m tired! But I gotta get it done!” LOL so true Robert, so true!

If you ever get the opportunity to see Robert speak, I’d highly recommend it. He was funny, entertaining and inspiring.

My camera settings for this image is F7.1 at 1/100th of a second at ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

Happy Labor Day! Hope everyone is having a great long weekend. Now that Labor Day is almost over would it be inappropriate to start counting down the days until Fall? Although you can’t tell, I took this image in the fall time a couple of years back. The fog had taken over the valley so much that you can’t even see anything but the beautiful curves of the mountains. I love the almost monochromatic blues in this image. It makes it so abstract and different from other images of the national park. Really looking forward to going back this year when the leaves start changing. I love Shenandoah during that time of year.

Speaking of traveling, this time next week Andrew and I will be on our way to our next travel destination. It’s kind of overwhelming since we just got back from California and planned this trip so last minute but either way I know it will be a great time. To be completely honest, we still haven’t figured everything out yet. It’s a place that neither one of us have been to and it will definietly be an adventure. Can’t wait to tell you about it soon.

In the meantime, let me know if you have in fall plans. I’m already loving all the pumpkin spiced things in the grocery stores but I have to be honest, the halloween and christmas stuff seem to be a TADDDDD too early though. LOL.  But so far my only fall plan is that there is a photowalk in the works! It’s going to be great and so different from the ones I’ve done before. So keep the middle-ish/end of October free. It’s going to be a good one!

My camera settings for this image is F13 at 1/20th of a second and ISO 125 with my Canon 5D Mark II and 24-105mm lens on a tripod.

We spent 4 nights in Lake Tahoe, 2 nights were spent camping while the other 2 were in my sister-in-law’s sister’s cabin.  It was my first time going as an adult. I had been before when I was much younger. I don’t remember much about it except we went for a ski trip. To be honest I just remember sitting on bus coming home from skiing and being super hot in my snowsuit. That was pretty much it. So it was basically my first time visiting. And it was Andrew’s very first time visiting too!

Driving around the lake we were both so surprised how built on the area is. I guess I’m just used to Lake Anna where there’s not much around and you have to drive like 30 minutes to the nearest grocery store. As opposed to Lake Tahoe where there’s a Taco Bell right across the street!

On our last day in Tahoe, Andrew and I woke up around 4am to drive from North to South Tahoe. I wanted to catch the sunrise from Emerald Bay and I was really hoping the water was going to be that aqua blue that you see in the pictures on pinterest. Unfortunately I think it only turns that color in the afternoon time. Something about how the sun hits the water or something like that. Oh well, I still love how this turned out. Funny enough, everyday except the first day that we were in Tahoe was a cloudless sky. In the end, I think it worked for this image because it’s all about the simplicity and the contrasting colors. I also love the sailboats that are docked by the shore. So cute!

My camera settings for this image is F4 at 1/1000th of a second ISO 400 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

Like I’ve mentioned before, I have quiet a few family members that live in the Northern California area so I’ve been a few times. And when I booked this trip to San Francisco, I wanted to make it a little different. I didn’t want to go to all the tourist attractions (which I did end up going to a few, but not as many as I would have before) but I just wanted to walk around the different neighborhoods and get to know the local side of San Francisco.

But the only shot that I had planned and definitely wanted to capture was this one. Up until recently, I had never seen anything like it. I love how the Bay Bridge is framed by the tall buildings and whenever I look at it, it totally reminds me of rice-a-roni, the San Francisco treat! HAHAHA. Wasn’t there a picture similar to this on the cover? or something like that. I can’t just be making it up.

So if you ever are going to be in the Bay area and want to capture something similar, here are a few tips I learned from capturing it:

• This shot is located on California St and Stockton St (I think). I heard that going on a Sunday morning is the best time to capture it because it’s going to be far less crowded and you’ll have a better chance of getting a clear shot of a trolley. So this was taken on a Sunday morning. I didn’t actually attempt to go any other morning.
• Be patient. The website says the trolley runs every 6-15 minutes. If you asked me, it seems like longer. I think I only saw two trolleys while I was there for an hour. Maybe I was there a little too early but still….
• Bring a long lens. In order to capture this compressed look, a long zoom lens is ideal.
• Hopefully when you go there will be no cars because you have to stand in the middle of the street to capture it. I’d suggest bring a friend with you so they can lookout if a car is on the way. If not, have you camera settings ready to capture this real quick.

My camera settings for this image is F4.0 at 1/400th of a second at ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

As you’re reading this, I’m traveling from San Francisco to Palo Alto today to hang out with my cousins. I’m really looking forward to seeing them and catching up. It is also the beginning of family time for the rest of this trip.

I spent the weekend to myself in San Francisco. I’m glad to have met up with photo friends along the way but for the most part I found myself wondering the city with just my camera. I’ve always heard that you should travel alone. It’s a great way to “discover” who you really are. But to be honest, I feel like I already have a good sense of who I am. It came to me when I was in college and really expanded from there. I’ve always been a really decisive person where I know I like or don’t like something after trying it for the first time. But  to be honest there has been something that I’ve been keeping in the back of my mind since the Focus on the Story International Photo Festival.

The first talk that I listened to at the festival was by Maggie Steber and I’m not sure if I’ve ever felt more inspired in my life. Among the things that she had talked about was having a personal photo project. Sure, me taking pictures of cherry blossoms and the Washington Monument are all things that I love to do but what is that one thing that really resonates with me? What is that one thing that I feel so much that is just dying to come out? I knew what this personal project had to be ever since Maggie’s talk but I think I’ve just been too scared to start.

I’m writing this blog post in advance but I’m also writing it as a reminder to myself. Angela- just start. It doesn’t have to be perfect right now. Just start by writing down your ideas. While you’re away from everything familiar to you, jump out of your comfort zone.

My camera settings for this image is F8.0 at 1/8th of a second at ISO 640 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

I have good news and I have bad news. Since you don’t have a choice in the matter, I’m going to tell you the bad news first.

Bad news is that my Sony camera is taking longer than expected to repair. Turns out it needed much more than just a little tune up and there’s a pretty significant amount of things that needed to be done to it and an even longer list of camera parts that need to be ordered. So in the end of it all, I think the camera repair people will have my camera for almost a month before I get it back 🙁

Even worser news is that I leave to California exactly 1 week from today and I don’t think my camera will be back in time.

I don’t want to bring my Canon camera with me to the west coast. I just don’t want all the extra bulk. So the good news is that I have rented a new body from borrowlenses.com, the Sony A7III. I talked to my friend, Larry about it. He just happens to be the most knowledgable person I know about Sony products and he has already warned me about falling in love. So I feel like am prepared to not like the longer battery life, dual memory card slots, and the focusing. But I’m super excited for my trip!

This image was taken a few weeks ago. The same time I took this image with my Sony A7II. I just love the stillness in this image and the crazy beautiful reflection. Days like this make waking up at 4 in the morning so worth it. I also really like how the image goes from blue to orange.

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/640th of a second and ISO 500 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.