The preschooler, Belle Thomas, and her 1-year-old brother, Preston, are standing still, looking straight into the camera lens and smiling. It’s picture-perfect, and the photographer is ready.
Click.
Just then, a 6-foot-1, two-term former president of the United States strides into the frame. In a few seconds, the photo shoot is over, and the photos are no longer of the siblings alone.
That’s how Barack Obama inadvertently became part of a family’s moment early Monday morning at the Tidal Basin in Washington.
The family was elated to have him as an interloper, the parents said.
“What! Barack Obama is in my picture?” exclaimed Belle, 4, the preschooler, during the joyous aftermath, when her parents, grandparents, and the family photographer, Briana Inell, realized that Mr. Obama had indeed been part of four or five frames.
The photographer had not planned it that way.
“I was trying to frame my picture, make sure that the Washington Monument is on the left and the blossoms are on the right, and the babies are in the center,” Ms. Inell said on Wednesday.
In the moment, Ms. Inell — who has been taking photos during peak cherry blossom season for the last 10 years — did not even notice as Mr. Obama entered the frame.
“I was just focused on getting the toddlers’ attention, especially when it’s a touristy spot like the Tidal Basin,” she said. “I don’t even see the tourists at this point anymore.”
At 7:30 a.m., there were far fewer tourists. “It’s a magical time,” Ms. Inell, who is based in the capital, said, “as sunlight comes over the Tidal Basin.”
Mr. Obama certainly thought so.
“It’s fun to be able to play tourist once in a while,” Mr. Obama said on Instagram later on Monday. “The cherry blossoms were beautiful this morning!”
More than 1.5 million people visit the Tidal Basin, a reservoir between the National Mall and the Potomac River, each spring to stroll among the Japanese cherry blossom trees as they burst into color, usually around the end of March. It was Tokyo’s mayor that gave 3,000 trees to the U.S. capital in 1912 as a symbol of friendship.
As the photos were being taken, Belle’s and Preston’s father, Damien Thomas, took a beat before confirming what his eyes had just seen. Neither he nor other family members called out to him as Secret Service agents trailed the 44th president.
“In the act of it, or as it transpired, you’re not realizing because you don’t even think that you’re going to see President Obama, right?” Mr. Thomas said on Wednesday. “So you don’t put two and two together until after the fact and you realize, OK, that really is President Obama.”
Belle had just learned about Mr. Obama during Black History Month, in February, and she was part of a video recording of her class, reciting a few lines from a speech he made in 2008: “Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Belle’s and Preston’s mother, Portia Moore, said that while her children don’t fully understand the magnitude of having a photo with the former president, they’ll be “sharing it forever, for their entire lives.”
Mr. Obama also shared the photo and said on Instagram: “Preston and Belle, I hope you enjoyed peak bloom! My bad for stepping into the shot.”
Adeel Hassan is a reporter and editor on the National Desk. He is a founding member of Race/Related, and much of his work focuses on identity and discrimination. He started the Morning Briefing for NYT Now and was its inaugural writer. He also served as an editor on the International Desk. More about Adeel Hassan
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