Once again, I got to photograph one of my favorite families in the DMV. Court and Grant know how to raise kids the right way: the kids were calling undecided voters, fighting for Black Lives Matter, wearing masks and keeping their distance and attending virtual school and walking their dogs. This year, Court is proudly donning her grandmother’s Cherokee jewelry as she and Grant celebrate a milestone anniversary—10 years! This family is also very well-read and in these pandemic times, they’ve also read a lot of great novels. Here’s the family on a lovely autumn afternoon, right before the leaves all disappeared.

Tracie and Akbar met freshman year of college and in 2005, when YouTube launched and W became president again, they tied the knot. They said that with each major anniversary they had talked about going on a nice vacation, one being to visit the Grand Canyon finally, but then various life things happened—birth of a kid, and now coronavirus. Nonetheless, that didn’t stop them from celebrating and having this photo session gifted to them by a friend, so I hope that my presence made up for missing out on the Grand Canyon – again. Happy anniversary, you two!

This family – they could be a Gap ad or something (not because they are wearing Gap – I actually have no idea what they are wearing). But they have a clean, fresh and happy glow and were so laid-back and fun to photograph. The kids ran around the playground, but the little girl stopped every so often to flash me a bright smile. Here are a few from that afternoon.