ANGELA B. PAN

Not every photo shoot turns out well. Sometimes I’ll go out and not even pull out my camera and just end up walking around aimlessly. Sometimes I’ll snap a few pics but know that they won’t be my favorites. Other times the images need a little creativity in post processing and I feel like thats what happened with this image.

I went out one morning last week hoping for a colorful sunrise but ended up with some very blue, cloudy skies. The good news is that I found a new puddle and I’m really looking forward to capturing this same scene during a nice sunrise. There are a lot of puddles all around the US Capitol. So many great reflections to be found but I think what makes this one so unique is the fact that you can still see the US Capitol and some car trails to go in front of it. Very cool, if you ask me.

It was a little difficult to capture. Luckily I carry all my extra batteries and memory cards in this cheap, Forever21 makeup bag that is made of entirely plastic. I emptied the entire contents into my backpack and placed it in the middle of the puddle so that I could use it as a resting place for my camera without it getting wet. The key to this image was to get as low as possible and that was basically sitting on top of the puddle.

I liked the way that the image turned out but I thought that rotating it made it look even cool. It sort of adds an interesting element to it and reminds me of those ink blot tests. What do you see actually see in this image?

My camera settings for this image is F11 at 6 seconds with ISO 125 on my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

Theres honestly nothing better than sitting on the edge of the reflecting pool and watching the sky explode with so much color. It brings me so much peace and happiness. This is why I love waking up for sunrise.

I know this is random but earlier this week I was thinking about what it would be like if I had my own solo exhibition. What kind of mood and experience would I want to bring to the people who came to see the show. And honestly the only thing I could think of was sitting at the edge of sunrise. Whether it was at the edge of a reflecting pool or at the edge of a rock formation but sitting there and watching the sky. I would want people to know what that feels like. With the wind blowing in my hair, watching the trees sway a little from side to side, and just listening to nothing but nature. Man, just thinking about that makes me feel so happy. Who knows if that would really happen but if it did, I would be so honored.

When people first meet me, a lot of people will say that I’m a really calm person. One person told me that it feels like I have a lot of inner peace. And a lot of times when people really get to know me, they call me quiet. I don’t know, I’m comfortable with silence. I don’t alway feel like you have to say something or do anything extra. I just like to take my time to observe and be present.

Not sure what any of this has to do with the image. It just makes me smile to think of all the amazing possibilities.

My camera settings for this image is F6.3 at 1/10th of a second and ISO 160 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

Somedays you get real lucky with sunrises. Somedays you don’t. This day I was EXTREMELY lucky.

I woke up a little bit earlier than I usually do and headed down to the US Capitol. Since it was kinda cold out, I decided to park on the street where I could keep my eye on the sunrise at all times but not actually have to get out of the car 🙂 I don’t remember what I was doing on my phone, probably on instagram or watching a youtube video or something when I noticed the sky change a little bit. I quickly jumped out of the car, grabbed my tripod out of the trunk and ran over to the reflecting pool. By the time I arrived, the sky had turned a crazy, vibrant color of pink. It was honestly one of the most exciting sunrises I had seen in a real long time. I grabbed a few shots and debated if I wanted to stay by the water or move closer to the Capitol Building itself. I noticed the water level was unusually high so I decided to stay by the water and take some images from right above. With it being so high and the weather being kind of windy, it was making the reflections dance a bit. I thought it was really cool.

But my favorite part of the whole morning was running into my friend, Erikson. He was on his way to work when the sunrise stopped him in his tracks. We watched the sunrise together and he even got this pretty cool behind the scenes shot of me. Click here if you want to check it out. It was so great just to sit and watch the sky with him. The color didn’t last long but it was so worth the early morning wake up call. I’m in love with how this image turned out <3

My camera settings for this image is F4.0 at 1/10th of a second at ISO 250 with my Sony A7Ii and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

Holy Smokes. 2018 is almost here. I can’t believe it but I’m sooooo excited. 2018 is going to be the best year ever. EVERRRRRRR.

But before the ball drops, I love going through and picking out my favorite images from the past year. I think they’re interesting to see since most of my favorites are probably not your favorite.  And I don’t have a top 10 or anything like that. It’s so hard to narrow it down to 10. I imagine it’s like your parents choosing who their favorite child is. So here it is, in no particular order, here are my 14 favorite image of 2017 from Washington DC.

And if you’re interested, click on each of the images to go back to that original blog post. I think it’d be interesting to see what I had to say about them at the time of taking the images.

Still remember this day like it was yesterday. It was amazingly foggy and I had spent a good 1.5-2 hours just walking around the National Mall. I was about to call it quits and walk back to my car when I saw the Jefferson Memorial looking like a dream. You know I had to stop and take a few more images.

The Yayoi Kusama exhibit at the Hirshorrn was a HUGE highlight of 2017. I waited sooo long to see it and was honored to have been able to go twice. This image was from my first visit. I’m still amazed I got to go in the room by myself. Click here to watch my youtube video of the experience.

Our first real snow of 2017 happened when the cherry blossoms were about to bloom. Oh man, I think this was the first time I really didn’t want it to snow. But in the end, it all worked out for the better.

YAY for cherry blossoms. You know I had to add at least 1 or 2 in here. I love this particular image because it’s so different from what I usually do. OMG there are people in my images. LOL. But my favorite part is the guy walking right on the sunburst. I was 100% lucky to be able to capture that.

From one of the best days ever of 2017. The crazy foggy cherry blossom morning at the Tidal Basin.

Another one from that fog-a-licious day.

My friend, Del taking in the Lincoln Memorial.

I think it’s so interesting how the rain drops stayed balled up on top of the succulents after a big rain storm.

Just a couple of minutes after I took the succulents image, I captured this amazing puddle.

Triple Rainbow!!! Never would have I imagined to have captured such a cool reflection shot. One of my all time favs.

I really love how the clouds are in the same shape and form as the branches. And that yellow/gold color *praise hands emoji*

One of my favorite unexpected finds.

So thankful for my friend, Christa who took me to this rooftop. Loved being up there!

My last sunrise of 2017. It was a cold and beautiful one. Just look at that glow 🙂

On Monday, I’ll have my favorite images from travel. Those are my favorite out ’em all!
Have a fun and safe New Years Eve everyone! See ya in 2018!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays! Which ever holiday you celebrate, I hope you got to spend this past weekend with the ones you love the most.

My holiday celebrations started last Friday and has continued everyday since. It was so great to see so many family members and friends. But I’m not going to lie, it was a pretty hectic weekend with a lot of eating. Diet starts tomorrow! …. or January 2nd 🙂 And I can’t get this song out of my head. What is your favorite holiday song?

I took this image one morning earlier this month. I knew I had to have something prepared for this day on the blog and I wanted to photograph the US Capitol Christmas tree since I already had an image of the National Christmas Tree in front of the White House. Somehow I forgot my tripod so this is completely hand held. I was sitting along the edge of the reflecting pool and held my camera as close to the water as I could get without it getting wet. It was pretty nerve wracking given my previous experiences with water and cameras but I’m glad I was able to get it done. Soon after I captured this moment, all the lights turned off and you weren’t able to see the Christmas Tree at all. I am lucky I got this when I did.

The camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 0.4 seconds and ISO 250 with my Sony A7II and 28-70mm. Pretty impressive for a 0.4 second hand held shot, right? I think so! LOL

Again, Happy Holidays to you! Now is the time to relax and just enjoy the winter season. Have you come up with your 2018 goals yet? I have a few in mind…

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.