ANGELA B. PAN

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!

If you’re in the DC area, check out the June’s issue of the Washingtonian magazine. Its the best of Washington issue and I have two pictures in there! So freakin’ cool! The first and biggest one is the one featured above. I took it one morning at the Hirshhorn Museum when people were waiting in line for the Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors exhibit on one of the last days that it was here. They were waiting for day of passes but it’s crazy because I took this around 7a in the morning and there were already so many people there. The light was absolutely amazing and the reflection in the middle as so cool. It was hard not to take the picture. The Washingtonian contacted me and said they were doing a story on lines in DC so I thought that this one would fit perfectly. I especially like all the blue and yellow tones plus the reflection in the windows are pretty awesome as well.

The second image I have in this month’s issue is of the National Gallery of Art’s new roof terrace sculpture by Katharina Fritsch’s titled “Hanh/Cock”. I originally wanted to take a picture of it for Chinese New Year since this year is the sign of the Cock. I think it’s really cool that it ended up in the Washingtonian. This sculpture itself is pretty large and in charge when you see it in person. I don’t know if you can see, but theres a slight shadow of someone in the window. That might give you a comparison of what it’s like to stand right next to it. Oh the jokes that this bird has heard.

Anyways, shout out to Washingtonian for being so awesome. Its always so exciting to see my work published in print. I grew up on the Washingtonian so I’m grateful to be able to contribute to such an awesome publication.

Here’s one more from the Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirror Room exhibit: All the Eternal Love I Have for Pumpkins, currently at the Hirshhorn Museum.

This has got to be my favorite room out of all of them. The first time I visited the Kusama exhibit, it was closed. Someone was trying to take a selfie and things got out of hand and smashed one of the pumpkins. I’m so glad everything got fixed and I was able to see the room in person on my second trip. Don’t get me wrong, all the rooms are AMAZINGLY beautiful, but theres something special about this one. First of all, the pumpkins themselves are soo cool. If I could have a pumpkin like that for Halloween, I’d have the most popular trick-or-treat house on the block. I love how they are in all different sizes and shapes. But I think the coolest part of the room is being able to see the reflection of the pumpkins on the ceilings. Seriously theres so much attention to detail in these rooms, it’s unbelievable.

To get this shot, I was in the room by myself and I immediately sat on the floor. The change of perspective really showcases the size of these pumpkins. BUT THAT GLOW THOUGH! Obviously the ISO was cranked really high for this one. My settings were: F/4 1/400th sec ISO 5000.

By the way, the music video I linked above was my absolute favorite from when I was in middle school. LOL. It reminds me so much of when I’d come home from school, turn on MTV’s Total Request Live and eat a hot pocket. Even to this day, if I hear Smashing Pumpkins on the radio, I’ll turn it up. Andrew’s always impressed that I know all the words to their songs. Don’t get me started on “1979”.

Did you watch the vlog I uploaded last week of the Yayoi Kusama Infinity Mirrors exhibit? At the very end of the video, I was behind the Smithsonian Institution Building (otherwise known as the castle) in the Enid A. Haupt garden. This image depitcs what was distracting me from what I was talking about. I had walked over from the Hirshhorn Museum and I don’t know why but I’ve never seen this view before. Maybe it’s because the magnolia trees weren’t bloomed or I have never walked through that particular entrance before but it literally stopped me in my tracks. The mid day sun was hitting the monument so perfectly. The flowers were looking so pink and beautiful. It was the perfect morning to take a little bit of time and appreciate these beautiful flowers. It really feels like spring is in the air and it’s here so early in the year.

This makes me really look forward to the next couple of weeks in the city. Not only because the cherry blossoms are expected to peak soon but that means I’ll be seeing tons of photo friends. Old ones and new ones. Some that are local and some that are from out of town. It’s so great how everyone sort of comes out of hibernation and goes to the Tidal Basin to photograph the beautiful flowers. It’s like a high school reunion every year, except I didn’t actually go to high school with any of them. So, if you’re at the tidal basin and you see me, please come say hi. It’s always so fun meeting new people who have the same interests 🙂

Here’s to hoping we have beautiful sunrises and sunsets, moody mornings, calming afternoons and no wind! Wind is pretty much the death of the cherry blossom flowers.