ANGELA B. PAN

Happy Halloween! I always look forward to Halloween. To me, it’s the jump off to all the holidays and I likes to eat! Pumpkin flavored everything? Yes please! I’ll take two.

What are your plans for tonight? I’ll be out with my nephews and niece trick or treating. Usually I don’t dress up for it, but this year I am. I’m going to be a shark and Frankie is going to be a piece of sushi. CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP. We’re going to look so cute together. But most of all, I’m looking forward to spending time with family and eating some chocolate.

This image was taken earlier this year at the Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirrors exhibit at the Hirshhorn Museum. The entire exhibit was amazing but my favorite of all the infinity rooms was definietly the ‘All the Eternal Love I have for the Pumpkins’ room. The first time I visited the exhibit, the room was closed because someone sat on a pumpkin. I mean how does that even happen? I was so disappointed that I didn’t get to see it that I had to make another trip back. Luckily the second time I was there, I got to experience the room. I really don’t know what it is about a whole bunch of glowing pumpkins that make it seem so magical, but it’s soooo cool. It’s as if you stepped into a fairy tale or something.

Unfortunately the exhibit isn’t in DC anymore but if you’re in the Los Angeles area, definietly go check it out at the Broad. You won’t regret it. And from there it will be in other parts of the United States so keep in eye out for it.

The settings for this image is 1/125th of a second at F4.0 and ISO 2500 with my Sony a7II and 28-70mm lens.

This past Friday, I had the honor of going back to high school again. WOW never thought I’d ever say those words but it really was an honor. I was invited by Ms. Archibald (just kidding Amanda), the current photo teacher at my alma mater, Langley High School.

I had such a great time sharing my photo journey since high school and speaking to the students about my photography. But my favorite part was after my talk and speaking to the individuals about their own images. To hear them speak about their own work and what they’d like to accomplish with their photography was inspiring. The creativity they had was like nothing I had seen. One artist was asking me on how she could expand on her dark image series. Another had used an xacto knife on her prints to reinforce the emotions the image was portraying. It was so cool. Man, to be that young again and utilize digital photography and social media to your advantage is so awesome. Kids these days…

The crazy part was walking through those doors again. There has been so much construction that my old high school was hardly recognizable. I mean nothing was the same! The photo lab still had a dark room but their main classroom looked more like a computer class than anything else. Everything is digital! Back in my day we were film only.

It would be so great to reconnect with my old photo teacher. So Mrs. Morse! If you’re out there, let’s have lunch and catch up!!

This image has nothing to do with my day at Langley. It’s an image I took a little while ago but I just thought it was cool. The camera settings on this one is 0.5 seconds and F22 at ISO 100.

Thanks again, Amanda and LHS for letting me come back. I had an experience will be hard to forget.

So after yesterday’s update at Shenandoah National Park, I figured I’d give an update at Great Falls Park. I used to come to this park a lot. When I was first getting started with photography in high school AND after I graduated from college (I sort of dropped off while I was in college), I’d come to this park a lot to practice. Since then I think I just got distracted with Washington DC images that I haven’t been back in a long time. It was probably last October since I’ve been back and it felt so good to hear the roar of the water again.

But I may have seen one or two trees that have already changed colors, other than that the park was mostly green. I find this to be good news though because it gives me more reasons to go back in the near future. If you’re looking for some great fall foliage shots, the falls and the Billy Goat trail are awesome to shoot.

Another reason why I sort of stopped going to Great Falls Park was that it started to close it’s gates at night. That meant I couldn’t get in for sunrise. Luckily, sunrise is around 7:20a now and I was at the gate for about 5 minutes before someone showed up to open the gate up at 7a. Pretty perfect timing if you asked me. The parking lot is pretty close to the first overlook which is where I shot this particular image. I had plenty of time to set up for this shot.

My camera settings for this image is F5.0 at 2 seconds ISO 640 with my Sony A7II and my 16-35mm wide angle lens. I also used my neutral density filter to slow down the image and create those awesome water lines on the bottom middle.

Back again to the Artechouse for their new exhibit, Spirit of Autumn. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d like it as much as I did. If I had to compare it to their previous exhibit, XYZT, it’s crazy to say but I think I liked Spirit of Autumn more.

XYZT was cool because the gallery was divided into smaller sections and there was a lot more to interact with. But the Spirit of Autumn was colorful, beautiful and so fun. This image was taken in the smaller side room. It kinda felt like you were walking through a lava lamp the whole time. But the best part was being able to manipulate where the lights and colors would go. My friend, Reem and I probably spent half the time in this room just going “WOW!”

The main room had 3 walls projecting huge trees that would sway in the “wind”. I think the coolest part was the fact that the leaves were all drawn by people who have visited the exhibit. For example, here’s my leaf. I tried my best to make a tie-dye leaf (now you know why I’m a photographer and not a painter).

10 seconds later, it was on a tree swaying with the other leaves. Soooo COOL! It’s also an auditory exhibit. If you clap your hands loud enough, it would start raining and thunder storming. And if you’re over 21, they have an alcoholic drink that if you put your camera phone on it, it will look like leaves are floating out of it. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to experience this but I heard from the grape vine that it’s really cool and delicious all at the same time.

So if you’re in the DC area, you gotta go check out this exhibit. It’s unlike anything you’ve experienced before. Trust me. Click here for more info. Go soon! The exhibit closes on November 5th.

My camera settings for this image is 1/20th of a second at F4.5 ISO 3200 with my 16-35mm wide angle lens and Sony A7II. The rooms are pretty dark so bump up your ISO before you shoot.

Somehow I’m lucky enough to live right in the middle of two awesome airports, Dulles International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.  But for some reason, I’m always flying out of Dulles. So when the rare opportunity comes up to fly out of Reagan, I take FULL ADVANTAGE! I do my research and try to figure out where I can sit on the plane to make sure I get the birds eye view of the National Mall. If you want to do the same, read on…

I know you can see the monuments if you’re flying north of DC and about 50% sure you can see them when you’re flying west of the city. You definietly won’t see them if you’re flying south. So if you’re flying north, try to sit on the right hand side of the plane. Obviously, when you’re flying back to DC, sit on the left hand side. If you aren’t able reserve those seats, you’ll still be able to get pretty cool views of the Pentagon and Air Force Memorial on the opposite side so be on the look out for those. Either way, window seats are key! And have your camera ready right at take off or when you are descending. It’s  surprising how fast the memorials will pop into your window. You’ll see them as you’re climbing your way up to the clouds or when you’re right about to touch down.

In order to take this image, I was sitting in the window seat, but I had to lean into the middle seat to capture it. My intention was to capture the light coming from the window and use it to frame the monuments. I really like this image, but I also wish I went a little closer to capture only the monuments. Oh well! There’s always next time:

My settings for this image is 1/3200 of a second at F/8 ISO 1000 with my 16-35mm wide angle lens and Sony A7II.

A quick break from autumn Maine images to show off Washington DC’s beautiful sunrise from yesterday. Sunrise is around 7:15ish now, so I have to take advantage of the later wake up call while I can. I shot this at the Tidal Basin on the little footbridge between the Jefferson Memorial and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial. It’s an angle that I’ve always wanted, but wasn’t sure I could get. I’m so glad it actually worked out this time.

Since I’ve been shooting DC sunrises for years now, I’m finding it to be a challenge to photograph it in new, different ways. I was super happy with the way this one turned out. My favorite part about the image is the color change between the two peep holes. The transition from cool to warm tones in a photograph is always something I strive for. I feel like it completes the whole color story and really adds a lot of dimension in a photograph. Plus the reflections of the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial look super cool too.

In order to capture this, my camera settings were F/6.3 at 1/20th of a second and ISO 200 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens. This was shot handheld although I did try to shoot it with my tripod. I just couldn’t get the tripod at the level that I wanted and I was constantly moving around to make sure the the monuments were centered, so the tripod just didn’t work out. Now that I think of it, I must have looked like I was spying on someone while I was sitting on the sidewalk and moving my neck all around to make sure everything lined up correctly. LOL, oh well. It’s not the first time I looked crazy for an image.