ANGELA B. PAN

WOW December 1st already! The last month of the year and then it’s 2018! CRAZINESS! I expect to capture more scenes like this in the next few weeks. From what I’ve been hearing we’re supposed to be getting an extra snowy winter. And if you ask me if it’s going to be cold, it might as well as be snowing or else what’s the point? Am I right?

My favorite is the untouched snow. But in order to do that, you gotta get up extra early to make sure you’re the first one there. Either that or photoshop. HAHA. But people ask me all the time about driving into the city when it snows. The answer is, I don’t. My little coupe can’t handle icey, slippery roads at all. I’m sliding all over the place and it’s just not worth it. Luckily I live within walking distance to the metro, so usually if you see snow pictures from me, it’s because I took the metro in. Probably the only time of the year where I’ll really use the metro. Otherwise, I much rather drive myself.

This was taken as I was walking down from the Foggy Bottom metro stop. It’s the closest one to Lincoln but I just love this side profile of the memorial. And my favorite part of the image is the hint of green you see on the trees. Otherwise it would be a totally unintended black and white image.

My camera settings for this image is F5.6 at 1/60th of a second and ISO 100 with my Sony A7II and 16-35mm wide angle lens.

Happy December everyone! Let me know in the comments if you have anything fun plan for the holidays. Otherwise, don’t forget to check out this month’s free calendar downloads! Click here to check them out.

If you’re a consistant reader to my blog, then you’ll know that I love talking about things that I’ve been into – the TV shows I’m watching, books I’m reading or even movies that I just watched.

But for some reason the whole time I was editing this image, I kept on thinking about Game of Thrones. The weird part is that I’ve never seen it! I think I’ve just seen that one meme “Winter is Coming” one too many times. So I kinda edited this image with that kind of look in mind. The funny part is, I have no idea what “Winter is Coming” means. No clue. And based on what I know about the show from my brother and what friends have told me, I don’t think I will be able to figure it out unless I watched the show. Oh well…

Fall is Coming.

Did I do that right? 🙂 LOL

The camera settings for this image is 1/30th of a second at F/13 and ISO 100. I took this in Yosemite National Park in March 2011. It being March and my first time ever visiting Yosemite National Park, I was super surprised to see snow on the ground. I even remember not being able to go to some parts of the park because there was too much snow to get through. Either way, my first experience in Yosemite National Park was magical. I feel like everyone always says that about Yosemite National Park but it’s so true. It’s hard to describe unless you’re there. To this day, if anyone asks me which is my favorite national park, hands down is Yosemite. I know I’ll be back and I hope that when that time comes, it will be in the spring or fall. My two favorite seasons with so much to photograph.

First of all, I just wanted to say thank you sooooooo much to everyone who commented, left messages or called me yesterday. You all really know how to make me feel special. I had the best day with Andrew yesterday in New York. If you follow me on instagram, you may have seen a little bit of it on my stories. So thank you, thank you, thank you. I am just so happy right now.

And to completely flip the script, remember when this was like the worst day ever?! This past winter was so nice and mild. I really thought we were going to get away with no snow at all. But March hit, all the flowers started budding/blooming and BAMN winter snow storm Stella. I’m still shaking my head as I’m writing this.

Man, I was so worried that this snow storm was going to effect the cherry blossoms. I mean look at them in this picture! Don’t they look so sad and cold. I’d never seen anything like it at the Tidal Basin. But as my friend, Bob Marley would say “Don’t worry about a thing, cuz every little thing is going to be all right”. And it did! It ended up being the best cherry blossom season I had experienced! The weather was absolutely perfect after the storm went away and a lot more of the cherry blossoms survived than expected. And don’t get me started on that one day we had fog! Holy Crap! The best part was that since a lot of people thought the cherry blossoms weren’t going to make it, the tidal basin was definietly not as crowded. It was just so freeing! Ahh I’m so happy just thinking about it.

And I’m happy that it was my birthday.

I’m just happy all around. Thank you again! <3

Cherry Blossoms! On one hand I wish they would stick around longer than a week at a time. On the other, I think it’s what makes me appreciate them even more. They’re so delicate and beautiful. My favorite is when they look like kernels of popcorn jumping off the branch.

My trick with cherry blossoms is to photograph them off the tripod. That’s right, no tripod at all. Unless you’re shooting the sky at sunrise or sunset, I feel like the tripod can be restricting. Especially when you’re trying for new angles and points of view. I tend to put my camera as close as I can get to them and start composing from there. They make for great foreground elements as well a good way to frame and using the branches for line. I particularly like this image because the cherry blossoms are coming at you from every which way. Some may say the ones in the very front should be in focus, but I like the out of focus ones the most. It adds an extra element of depth that you wouldn’t get if they were in sharp.

This was shot early morning, right after sunrise. So my camera settings for this image was F/8 at 1/1000th of a second ISO 1000. Not sure why my ISO was so high. That must have been a mistake. If I were to do it again, it’d probably be in the 100 to 200 range. Results would be the same but I’m sure during post processing I had to denoise it to get rid of the small specks.

Here’s hoping we get a normal winter this year and the snow stops falling in February instead of March like it did this year! A lot of these suckers didn’t’ get to full term this year 🙁

This summer has been so good so far. I’ve been to more new-to-me places in the United States these past few weeks then I ever have in my whole entire life. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! So grateful.

And our trip to Colorado seemed like it was so long ago but it really wasn’t. It was just the jump off to so many amazing adventures. I had a blast just driving around and checking out the sites. Beautiful mountain ranges at every turn. I remember purposely staying awake in the car so that I could see more of Colorado and once we hit Utah, I was out like a light bulb. LOL.

So this image was taken at one of our many pull over stops. I have no clue where it was but I just really enjoyed the cloud formations and the way the light was hitting the mountains. Can you imagine seeing this on your daily commute? That’d be bananas. I feel like after this trip, I am much more in awe of snow capped mountains than I am of any beach or anything like that.

I really don’t know what it’s like in the winter time but if it weren’t too bad, I’d definietly consider living in Colorado for a little while. That’s how much I liked it. So if you’re reading this and you have experienced the winter in Colorado, let me know! Is the snow just ridiculous? Would I have to get a SUV? What do you do in the winter time besides ski? These are the questions I need answered before I move.  The weather while we were there in the beginning of June was absolutely perfect! The air was so crisp and clean. Perfect weather to walk around or enjoy a meal outside.

The other day, Andrew and I were talking about how crazy the past two months have been. I think all the craziness started around Memorial day and it’s just been non-stop ever since. I’m not complaining though. It definietly makes life interesting and fun. But for some reason I feel like it’s only the beginning. And no, I’m not pregnant- MOM!

Then I started thinking about the year as a whole. I’m so grateful for everything that has happened this year and it all started in Iceland. A place I’ve visited before but this time I really got to explore and enjoy this amazing country. It’s just so beautiful at every turn. Everyone you meet is so nice when you talk to them. The food was better than expected and the waterfalls are even better.

However this image was taken at a black sand beach in Höfn called Stokksnes. No waterfalls that I knew of were near by but if you ever visit Iceland this place is definietly worth the drive. Holy crap I can’t express that enough. It’s amazingly beautiful. And the sunrises lasts for so long. We were there in the winter time so I don’t know what it’d be like in the summer. But the best part was that the sunrise was at 945a! (You can’t see my face but it looks like I just ate a sour lime, but in a really expressive/happy way.) It felt like we were there for an hour and the color was still changing and exploding. Highly recommended and I’d go again and again if I had the opportunity to.

So even though more than half the year is gone, I’m optimistic and really looking forward to new adventures. Which also reminds me, how are you doing with your new year’s resolutions?