In November 2020, people took to the streets to celebrate the calling of the U.S. presidential election for Joseph R. Biden Jr.; after four years of a regime whose policies and politics the revelers did not agree with, change was coming, and for many, joy cometh in the morning.
Originally based in Los Angeles, I was reassigned to The Times’ D.C. bureau to document the nation’s capital and the first 100 days of the incoming Biden-Harris administration.
What I found was the convergence of the different parts of 2020 and 2021: the pandemic, the dawn of a new administration, the insurrection and its aftermath, the shifting of power in Congress and a city and country that were desperately seeking to return to a sense of normalcy.
Donald Trump supporters gather on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington as Congress was meeting to certify the electoral college vote confirming Joe Biden’s election.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Law enforcement officers clash with a pro-Trump crowd.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Supporters of Donald Trump outside the Capitol on the day it was stormed.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
A broken window in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol, where a joint session of Congress was to verify the electoral college votes.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
National Guard members sleep as the House of Representatives convened to impeach then-President Trump, nearly a week after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Security measures along Constitution Avenue. After the Capitol breach, the FBI warned of additional threats in the nation’s capital and all 50 states.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Flags decorate the National Mall a day before the inauguration of Joe Biden.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Kamala Harris is sworn in as vice president on Jan. 20, 2021.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Joe Biden is sworn in as president on Jan. 20, 2021.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
The dome of the Capitol Building is seen as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) arrives for a news conference on Capitol Hill on Jan. 28, 2021.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
People take part in a snowball fight as snow blankets the National Mall on the last day of January.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) walks through the Capitol Building on Feb. 8, 2021, a day before the Senate was scheduled to begin the second impeachment trial of then-President Trump.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Trucks with LED screens displaying anti-Trump messages are parked along 7th Street ahead of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Snow falls over the U.S. Capitol grounds on Feb. 10, 2021, the second day of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Journalists photograph David Schoen, defense attorney for Donald Trump, in the Senate Subway at the Capitol on Feb. 11, 2021, the third day of Trump’s impeachment trial.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the lead House impeachment manager, gestures to National Guard troops at the Capitol on Day 3 of Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Members of the 117th Congress, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) observe a moment of silence Feb. 23, 2021, for the 500,000 American lives lost to COVID-19.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Birds in flight over Constitution Gardens Pond with the Washington Monument in the background on Feb. 27, 2021.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) sprints up the steps of the east front of the House of Representatives on Capitol Hill on March 3, 2021.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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Vice President Kamala Harris on March 4, 2021.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
A congressional staffer adjusts flags before the start of a news conference on immigration on March 18, 2021.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Vice President Kamala Harris makes a stop at Brown Sugar Bakery on Chicago’s Southside with Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx and Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton on April 6, 2021.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Vice President Kamala Harris waves at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on April 6, 2021, after a trip to Los Angeles.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Police officers from Prince George’s County salute a procession with a hearse carrying Capitol Police Officer William “Billy” Evans on April 13, 2021. Evans was killed when a man rammed a car into the north barricade outside the Capitol.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) pets Officer Clarence, a Saint Bernard with the Greenfield (Mass.) Police Department in the Capitol Rotunda on April 15, 2021. Officer Clarence, a police comfort dog, started with the Greenfield police in 2013.
Kent Nishimura is a former staff photographer with the Los Angeles Times, based in Washington, D.C. Born in Taiwan, Nishimura immigrated to the United States, grew up in Hawaii and is a graduate of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. His work has been recognized by Pictures of the Year International, the National Headliner Awards, the White House News Photographers Assn. and the National Press Photographers Assn., among others. He has worked on staff at newspapers across the United States and freelanced for many national and international publications before joining The Times in 2017.