ANGELA B. PAN

I recently got a Zeiss Batis 85mm f1.8 E-mount lens for my Sony A7rIII. For the past few weeks, it’s been the main lens that I’ve been using while going out to take pictures and I have been really enjoying it so far. My first impression was that it was kind of short and stubby, but overall a great weight for an f1.8 lens and a lens I see carrying around for years to come.

If you’ve been following my work for a little while now, you’ll know that my usual go-to lens is a 70-200mm because I love the compression that I get with it. For being a prime lens, I am most impressed by the compression that I get with the 85mm.

So here are a few sample images I’ve captured using the 85mm. All of these images were taken with my Sony A7rIII in RAW and then edited using Lightroom.

ISO 160 f2.5 1/4000th sec 85mm

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In November 2020, I was out trying to photograph the full moon and unfortunately, clouds had a different idea. The moon was completely covered and I was just standing in the cold with my camera and 70-200mm on a tripod. I could have gone the next night when the sky would have been clear but I just was feeling so discouraged that I didn’t want to. This had been my 3rd month in a row where I wasn’t able to capture the moon. So I wanted to do something that would keep me motivated to go out and shoot.

Right then and there I came up with an idea that I should rent the biggest lens I can find. LOL.

So after discussing this idea with a few friends, I finally decided that I’d rent a 200-600mm lens. This would bring a whole new view to the city that I couldn’t even imagine. I rented it from lensrentals.com and I could not have been more excited that it actually came 3 days earlier than I had expected. So I had 10 days with the lens and I was pumped!

My first real test came on an afternoon at the Washington Monument. It is actually the same exact place where I came up with the idea to rent the lens so it’s funny that this was the first place that I want to go to test it out.

I was blown away!

The compression on the lens is CRAZY. These people were at least 20 feet away from me. The US Capitol is about a mile away from the Washington Monument. But if you asked me, it seriously looks like you could just reach out and touch the people.

It was on!

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Over the summer, I worked with Events DC to create a 6-part video series of all my favorite places in DC and how to photograph them. The series is called “Capture the Capital” and there will be two episodes released every Tuesday. I’m so excited for you to watch them! 

Week 1

The first two videos are about the Lincoln Memorial and the US Capitol. If you follow my work or visit my blog, you know that these two places feel like home to me. I go to these places so often that I feel like I can walk them with my eyes closed (I’m giggling to myself thinking about what that could look like. LOL). They are some of my favorite places to capture the sunrise and sunset, and I give all my favorite tips and angles on how to capture them.

Special shoutout to my friend, Dave who helped me film these two videos, and Francis who helped me edit them. The videos would not have been nearly as good as they are if it weren’t for their help.

Instead of just showing you the videos, I thought it would be fun to give you a little behind the scenes of what it was like to film each of these videos as they come out. So check this post each week for a little more insight behind the vids.

The Lincoln Memorial

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Hi,

Sorry, long time no blog. I realize that my last two blog posts were about the Black Lives Matters protests in Washington DC. It is such a large subject to document and I really wanted to frame the posts in a way that wasn’t political but my experience at each of the protests I had gone to. But after a while, I was not sure how to transition away from that. I had gone to more protests and wanted to share the images, but I did not know how to present the images in a different way. One thing led to another and I sort of felt like I was in a creative rut. So I just didn’t write any blog posts and barely went out to create more pictures to share.

BUT I’M BACK BABY! After spending some time for myself and reflecting on the type of work I want to create, I found myself getting more excited about capturing images and sharing them.

But to automatically switch gears from the protests posts to my favorite road trips from Washington DC, seemed a bit of a weird transition. Don’t get me wrong, I have my favorite road trips blog post about 70% done already and that will probably be the next post after this one, but I figured this blog post can give a little update of what has happened since last time I blogged…

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Currently working on the annual tradition of curating my personal favorite images from the year. I don’t remember when this started but I’ve always had one for my favorite Washington DC images of the year. More recently I added another list where I reflect on my favorite travel images of the year as well. It’s definitely been a busy year but do you have any images that come to mind? I love this time of year to reflect back.

And don’t worry, the top travel images will definitely have some from Turks and Caicos. I hope to visit the Carribean again in 2020!

My camera settings for this image are F6.3 at 1/160th sec and ISO 250 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.

There have been so many beautiful highlights of 2019 and one of them was definitely the reopening of the Washington Monument this past September. Every time I walk or drive past it now, I’m just so excited there aren’t any fencing or barriers around it anymore. It’s like a whole new area of the National Mall opened up, ready to roam and explore.

The best is being able to go to the top. I haven’t been able to go since 2014, but even then it closed down a few months later. I would love to go back up during the different seasons, especially when it snows. I think the city looks so beautiful when it snows and being 555ft above ground must be a beautiful sight to see.

In case you missed it, I created a guide to visiting the Washington Monument. Everything you need to know about getting tickets and visiting before you actually go.

This image may not be as obvious, but it’s of Constitution Gardens, adjacent to the WWII memorial on the National Mall. Fortunately, I was able to get tickets during sunset so that warm glow was hitting all the trees at the right time. If you look a little further into the image, you can see the Kennedy Center and the Potomac River <3

My camera settings for this image are F4.5 at 1/60th sec and ISO 1000 with my Sony A7II and 70-200mm zoom lens.