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When Portia Moore and Damien Thomas’ family photographer changed the plans for their afternoon photo shoot at the Tidal Basin this week, the couple liked the idea.
“We were supposed to go out Monday afternoon,” Moore said. “But she said, ‘No, 7:30 a.m. is just better. You miss the traffic, you miss all the people and you get the sunrise.'”
The couple wanted their two children, Belle, 4, and one-year-old Preston, in most of the shots.
Minutes into their session, Thomas spotted a familiar man in the distance — former President Barack Obama taking a morning walk wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses.
Moore said she was distracted, trying to get her kids to smile and keeping her toddler out of the water.
“Damien said something to me and my brain was saying, ‘Why are you talking to me? I’m watching our kids, making sure they’re smiling,'” she said. “And Damien says, ‘That’s President Obama.'”
And the surprise visitor was getting closer.
“At this point, he’s like 20 or 30 feet away and I’m like, ‘What?”” Moore said.
The photographer, Briana Inell, raced to set up the shot with Belle and Preston. Her camera captured every frame of Obama accidentally photobombing the kids’ picture.
“Did you get the shot?” Moore said, recounting how she excitedly asked Inell about the photo. “She scrolled through the pictures and I think I screamed and jumped up and down!”
Inell snapped the photo just as the famous photobomber walked past Belle and Preston.
“I’m going to do a 100-by-100 print and put it on our house,” Moore joked. “No, really, we’ll put the photo in family picture grid in our house. And I own a preschool, so maybe I’ll make a board book about it, something special for the kids.”
Moore said her daughter knows who the famous photobomber is through a Black history program at her preschool.
President Obama got wind of the now-viral photo and sent a message on social media apologizing to the kids for photobombing their portrait: “Preston and Belle, I hope you enjoyed peak bloom! My bad for stepping into the shot.”
“That was so cool,” Moore told WTOP. “He knows who Belle and Preston are. It is priceless and a very special thing for the kids.”