2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Alazha, a 7th grader at Sousa Middle School, dances to Go-Go music at the end of Mr. Paul 'JusPaul' Spires' music class on February 18, 2025, in Southeast Washington, D.C. Go-Go, a subgenre of funk, is a defining element of D.C.'s African American culture. As the genre faces an aging fan base and a decline in younger bands, many in the community worry about its future. Spires is one of the few teachers in the DMV who integrates Go-Go into his curriculum, striving to pass it on to future generations.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Isaac Clark, from New Jersey, and other Trump supporters huddle together in the rising steam from ground vents to stay warm as they wait for Donald Trump to travel down Pennsylvania Avenue on January 20, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Bobby A. Kelly uses his Rotech Breathing Machine in the family living room while waiting for her daughter Brooke Kelly, 24, to get back from taking a drug test for her recovery program on May 28, 2025, in Cynthiana, Kentucky. Because of smoking and inhaling tar while working in construction, Bobby has weak lungs.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Brooklynn, 7, (left) and her brother Logan Pike, 5, (right) make sand castles in the dirt on the north side of West Penn St. in Cynthiana, Kentucky, on June 8, 2025.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Patricia Gauge bags tobacco at the Kentuckys Best Cigarette and Tobacco Factory at 736 US-27 in Cynthiana, Kentucky, on August 4, 2025.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Jayden Williams poses for a portrait in his fathers mask next to his familys yard sale outside their house at 316 W. Pearl St. in Cynthiana, Kentucky, on June 29, 2025. The Williams family buys storage units often so they can resell whats inside them.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
An employee at the Riverview Meat Company washes blood and feces of the floor from Josh Smiths cow, #19, on the morning of Tuesday May 20, 2025, in Cynthiana, Kentucky. When he dropped her off, Smiths cow had a bad upper left hoof and weighed 1,230 pounds.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Elder Kurt Raglin lowers the flags outside Victory Baptist Church to half mast ahead of Samuel Lee Grosss (1962-2025) funeral viewing at 11:00 a.m. and service at 1:00 p.m. at Victory Baptist Church at 213 Cs-1004, in Cynthiana, Kentucky, on July 11, 2025. Gross, a veteran of the U.S. Army, passed away days after moving into a new apartment in Lexington, Kentucky, from carbon monoxide poisoning. The funeral service was held through the help of Woodhead Funeral Home.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Danjale, "The Punchline Princess," gets ready for her performance at the Long Live Go-Go concert series at Songbyrd on November 14, 2024, in Washington, D.C.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
The Swallows In the bluegrass region of Kentucky, many of the tobacco warehouses that once shaped daily life now sit mostly empty as quiet reminders of the past. Their rafters, that once hung tobacco, now cradle swallow nests each summer, as the birds return to buildings in flux, mirroring the uncertainty of the land below. This series of photographs documents one of many agricultural economies navigating an unclear future: where farmers pivot to new crops, officials place their hopes on tourism, and longtime residents hold tight to a way of life rooted in the land. It is not a summary of this space but rather a visual record of a rural community reckoning with the end of an erajust a chapter in a larger story about the changing face of rural America.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Scotts Transport Company helps move a double wide home for the Smith family in Rutland, Kentucky, on July 21, 2025. Scotts Transport, based in London, Kentucky, helps people living across the region move their homes or get their delivered.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Robin Joseph hugs one of her ndio Gigante Chickens, which have the capacity to grow as tall as 4 feet, from Brazil in her yard at 4232 Cr-1047 (Snick Lick Rd.) in Antioch, Kentucky, on June 30, 2025.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Silas (left), Grayson (middle) and Rayelynne Beamon (right) play outside their home off Delta Court on Memorial Day on May 26, 2025, in Cynthiana, Kentucky.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Kyree Moore, 7, consoles his younger brother Ayvion, 2, with his sisters Airyana, 3, (left) and Kynlee, 5, (right) as their mother Brooke Kelly, 24, goes to police station to talk with her probation officers on May 29, 2025, in Cynthiana, Kentucky. Brooke later found out that one of her neighbors called the police and Child Protective Services to file a complaint.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Gary Gainess funeral service at Raven Creek Cemetery off Hinton Webber Rd. on June 18, 2025, in Corinth, Kentucky.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
PJ Simpson wipes his face while talking with his crewman Bob Chaffee after almost hurting another driver during time trials at Mudlick Valley Raceway in Wallingford, Kentucky, on August 2, 2025.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Chase Puckett butchers a snapping turtle he found on the road outside his grandmothers house in Oddville, Kentucky, on June 30, 2025.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Alexa Becraft prepares to show her sheep Waylen at the Harrison County Fair at the Harrison County Fairgrounds in Cynthiana, Kentucky, on July 14, 2025.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Glenn Taylor in his Victorian home at 207 Oddville Ave., in Cynthiana, Kentucky, on June 3, 2025. Taylor moved to Cynthiana from Lexington in 2002 and purchased two Victorian homes to restore in 2021.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
The Harrison County High School cheerleading team practices on the school football field at 302 Webster Ave. in Cynthiana, Kentucky, on August 4, 2025.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Some of David Barness H-2A workers from Mexico hang tobacco in one of his barns at 695 Robinson Rd. in Robinson, Kentucky, on August 11, 2025.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Barn Swallows fly in the fog next to 4346 State Hwy 1032 in Berry, Kentucky, on August 6, 2025.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
A Shaw Diary Today, the families who gave D.C. its soul are the ones being pushed to its margins. In Shaw, a historically Black neighborhood, one multigenerational family stands as a mirror to this transformation. Brad, Reece, their four children, ages 1-10, and their extended family have long settled in the area. While building a life for their family, the couple navigates the tension between memory and development, community and displacement, alongside personal conflicts with domestic violence, alcohol, and drugs. Their story is not isolatedit echoes the experiences of countless others who remain, resisting erasure and gentrification. This project, created in collaboration with the family, bears witness to their daily lives as they adapt, endure, and preserve what still belongs to them. "Were an average family trying to live through this whole situation, and we still try to be fly," the mother of this family, Reece said. "We do. We still try to make sure we have our Uggs, our Jordans, and and our North Faces on, but that shit hard... That shit hard."
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Brad, left, and Reece, right, first met in Washington, D.C., over a decade ago. Together, theyre raising seven childrenfour of whom are Brads. On May 6, 2025, the couple, who are not married, posed for a portrait in their living room in Shaw.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
From left, Nyles, 2, Braylen, 10, and Billie, 7, are Brad and Reece's three eldest children of four. The three children share this room, often watching TV or doing their homework after school. Here, they watch YouTube in their bedroom on January 25, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Reece was born and raised in DC and moved into the subsidized apartment with Brad after they started dating when their first child was born. Here, she prepares onions in her kitchen for the family on January 25, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Nyles, 2, cries on his father's shoulder after getting upset for not being able to hold his younger brother, Brent, in their apartment on January 26, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
On several occasions, Reece has stabbed Brad during arguments. "This one is when she got me with a beer bottle," Brad said. Here, Brad poses for a portrait in his living room on May 6, 2025.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
After having a few drinks, Reece falls asleep while feeding her baby, Brent, on the couch in their living room on January 25, 2025. Brent was born in January of 2025.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Brad calls his dealer after thinking the balls of K2, a form of synthetic marijuana, he bought seemed too small on April 8, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Billie, 7, eats an apple in the hall while playing with her brother Nyles on February 21, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Billie says she loves to play outside at the recreation center across the street, but when it's too cold, she and her siblings play in the apartment or in the hallway.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Reece and Brad bring Nyles with them to Columbia Heights to get weed to celebrate 4/20 back in their apartment.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Nyelle does Billie's hair after school for her Hello Kitty themed pj slumber party later in the evening on March 28, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
Nyles waits while Brad convinces the cashier that eggs and cheese are covered by his food stamps before going back home for Easter dinner on April 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Brad was successful.
Jordan Tovin
2025 Rich Mahan Best Student Portfolio
1330 Apartments is located on the corner of 7th St. and O St., at the heart of the Shaw neighborhood. First opened in 1974, the complex has a total of 136 units, some of which are subsidized housing. Here, the building is seen at dusk in Washington, D.C., on February 17, 2025.
Jordan Tovin