Obama responded to the photobomb on Instagram, saying, ‘Preston and Belle, I hope you enjoyed peak bloom! My bad for stepping into the shot.’

A Virginia family’s cherry blossoms photoshoot in Washington D.C. didn’t go as planned after a bystander walked into a frame meant only to include their two toddlers.

However, Falls Church resident Portia Moore had no complaints as the photobomber in question was former President Barack Obama.

Dedicating her full attention to the photoshoot at 7 a.m. Monday morning, Moore said she did not notice the 44th president passing by until her husband pointed him out.

“Once their shoot is all done I was like, ‘Jamie, what did you say?’ He was like ‘That’s President Obama over there,’ and I was like ‘Oh my goodness,’” Moore told USA TODAY Wednesday. “I was like, ‘You should’ve grabbed me and made more of a big deal about it.’”

Briana Inell, the photographer the family hired, proceeded to snap photos of Obama from about 20 to 30 feet away as he roamed the Tidal Basin tourist area. Soon after, Inell looked through their photographs and noticed the Democrat casually walking right by Moore’s 20-month-old son, Preston, and four-month-old daughter, Belle.

Inell said the image will sit right at the center of a six-by-two grid framed at their home in Falls Church, about 10 miles from DC.

Photographer also didn’t notice Obama photobomb

Inell, who has previously worked with the family, said she failed to notice Obama’s photobombing as the Tidal Basin area is typically so packed during tourist season. It wasn’t until she heard Moore’s grandparents point him out that she spotted him along with several Secret Service agents.

After several years as a DC-based photographer, she finally got to cross photographing a former president off her bucket list.

“I’ve always wanted to see Obama, and I am so shocked and surprised that it actually happened to me,” Inell said.

Obama himself posted on Instagram Monday to show off his own photos of the D.C. cherry blossoms, which typically bloom between March and April.

“It’s fun to be able to play tourist once in a while. The cherry blossoms were beautiful this morning!” he wrote.

Obama even responded to the photobomb on Instagram, commenting under Smith’s post: “Preston and Belle, I hope you enjoyed peak bloom! My bad for stepping into the shot.”

The D.C. Council passed emergency legislation Tuesday that changes the city’s open meetings law to allow private meetings in certain situations. Critics of the measure are pouncing on the change, saying it would dramatically modify the way the city operates. But city officials insist it’s needed.

Under this new law, council members will be allowed to have private meetings without the required two days of notice to the public, as long as the meeting is to discuss a possible terrorist threat, public health threats or to meet with the mayor. During those meetings, no votes or official actions can be taken.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson argued that council members were not allowed to discuss items among themselves without the fear someone will claim they violated the current law.

“Sometimes we want to have a conversation, and they can’t be public, or we won’t have those conversations,” he said.

The council passed the emergency legislation 10-2. Once signed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, the law will be enacted for 90 days, during which the council will consider what changes it wants in a permanent bill. It will hold a public hearing April 22 to discuss the matter.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — It started as an ordinary D.C. intersection — a tourist destination with a modest white church on the corner, notable largely for an unobstructed view of the White House across Lafayette Park. Then, in the pandemic summer of 2020, it transformed.

The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police turned the nexus of 16th and H streets into a focal point for decades-old grievances over police brutality and racial inequities.

Even before it was named Black Lives Matter Plaza, thousands of protesters descended there daily, many staying around the clock as support tents and infrastructure sprung up. At times, the protests turned violent: A groundskeeper building in the park burned down; the church, St. John’s Episcopal, briefly caught fire; and at least one night saw storefronts destroyed downtown.

At other times, the violence was directed at protesters, including when police abruptly used chemical agents to clear out protesters, so President Donald Trump could pose in front of St. John’s holding a Bible.

Later that year, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered the creation of Black Lives Matter Plaza, with official street signs and “Black Lives Matter” painted in giant yellow letters on a multiblock stretch of 16th Street. The move was symbolic, but the impact concrete: BLM Plaza became a magnet point for years of political activism. Hundreds of protests started, ended or rallied there. Semipermanent protesters mingled with tourists; crowds brought vendors and food trucks, creating a street-fair vibe.

But Bowser’s move was derided by local activists, who accused her of co-opting an organic movement whose values she did not share. In a brief game of cat-and-mouse, activists erased the stars from the Washington, D.C., flag painted on the street, creating the image of an equal sign; they temporarily changed the message to “Black Lives Matter = Defund the Police.”

Despite local resistance, Bowser’s act of public defiance established her as a prominent foil for Trump in his first term.

Now, the site has changed again, an indicator of America’s political pendulum swings. Bowser announced early this month that the city would remove the words as she struggled with threats of encroachment from Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress.

The work was supposed to take at least six weeks, but appears to be finishing ahead of schedule. Workers have completed removing the letters.

And the street signs reading Black Lives Matter Plaza have come down.

___

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