Alexandria Loses a Quiet Visual Poet: Photographer Lee Moody Dies at 72

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Katharine “Lee” Moody, whose evocative photography captured the quiet beauty, atmosphere, and emotional texture of Alexandria for years, has died following a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 72.

For years, Lee quietly became part of the fabric of Old Town Alexandria itself — often spotted walking before dawn with her beloved black lab, Taylor, camera in hand, waiting patiently for those fleeting moments when the city transformed into something extraordinary.

Her photographs were more than scenic images. They captured a feeling.

Through fiery waterfront dawns, mist rolling across the Potomac, quiet cobblestone streets, church steeples glowing in early light, flooded streets reflecting historic buildings like watercolor paintings, snowstorms, rain-soaked sidewalks, and changing seasons along King Street, Lee showed Alexandria not simply as a historic city, but as a place of gentleness, reflection, and wonder.

Her work appeared on the covers of both The Zebra Press and The Old Town Crier and became beloved throughout the community she loved so deeply.

Yet despite the admiration her work received, Lee herself remained intensely humble and private.

Friends searching through her social media pages in recent days found only a handful of photographs of Lee herself amid thousands of images of Old Town sunrises, waterfront reflections, neighborhood street scenes in every season and weather condition, and, of course, Taylor.

In many ways, Lee seemed far more interested in shining light on the beauty around her than drawing attention to herself.

When The Zebra Press asked how she wished to be credited for the many photographs shared in print and across social media over the years, Lee preferred they simply be attributed to “@OldTownBlackDog.”

It felt fitting for someone who rarely sought attention for herself despite creating images that so many Alexandrians came to love.

Taylor herself became familiar to many Alexandrians through Lee’s social media presence under that same name, where waterfront walks, sunrise photographs, and tender everyday moments created a devoted following among dog lovers and admirers of Alexandria alike.

“This is such heartbreaking news,” Zebra publisher Mary Wadland wrote following Lee’s passing. “A major light has gone out in Alexandria today.”

Wadland recalled that The Zebra had been honored to feature Lee’s photography on multiple covers over the years.

“She had a gift for capturing Old Town not just as a place, but as a feeling — those quiet sunrise moments that made people stop and see our city differently,” Wadland wrote. “Alexandria was better, kinder, and more beautiful because Lee Moody walked its streets with a camera in hand and a dog by her side.”

Lee’s best friend, Heidi Burkhardt, who announced her passing publicly, described Lee as someone admired widely for both her artistic talent and her gentle spirit.

“Many of you were aware of Lee’s cancer diagnosis in 2024 and followed her nearly two-year journey with love, support, thoughtful cards, calls, texts, visits, and endless kindness,” Burkhardt wrote. “She had a vast network of friends near and far, and that support helped carry her through each day.”

Burkhardt described Lee spending “countless early mornings walking the streets of Old Town in search of the perfect sunrise,” almost always accompanied by Taylor.

Born in Jacksonville, Florida, on February 24, 1954, Lee moved with her family to the Alexandria area in 1965 just before the historic Blizzard of ’66 — an experience friends say became one of her treasured childhood memories.

She graduated from Thomas A. Edison High School in 1972 and James Madison University in 1976. Lee later worked for more than 40 years with the Department of Defense in Foreign Military Sales and Export Control before retiring in 2019.

In July 2024, Lee revealed publicly that she had been diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

Facing chemotherapy, hair loss, and the painful realities of terminal illness, she continued to communicate with remarkable honesty, humor, and grace.

In one social media post shared shortly after her diagnosis, Lee spoke candidly about the heartbreaking decision to allow Taylor to temporarily live with close friends Ann and Steve in Baltimore during treatment.

“She is still my love bug,” Lee wrote of Taylor, “only now she has more people in her circle to love.”

Even amid the harsh realities of cancer, her warmth and self-deprecating humor never disappeared. Earlier this year, alongside a smiling photograph showing her short white hair growing back, she joked: “I need a haircut, I can’t do a thing with this hair.”

And throughout much of the past year, Lee quietly returned to doing what she loved most: photographing Alexandria once again at dawn and in every changing season.

On March 28, she changed the cover image on her Facebook page to one of her signature Alexandria photographs — a breathtaking explosion of crimson, gold, lavender, and reflected light stretching across the Potomac River while Taylor remained her profile photograph.

It felt fitting for someone who spent years helping others notice the beauty waiting quietly at the start of each new day.

Her final social media post, shared May 11, featured a photograph of Taylor with four simple words:

“My beautiful love bug. ❤️”

Friends across Alexandria have spent recent days sharing stories not only of Lee’s artistic gifts, but of her warmth, kindness, and gentle presence.

“So sad to hear of her passing,” wrote former colleague Julie Maclean. “I will miss her and her beautiful photography she shared over the years.”

Lee requested no formal service. Her ashes will be scattered at sunrise in Flagler Beach, Florida, and also in the Potomac River near the Old Town waterfront she photographed and loved so dearly.

Her passing leaves a profound emptiness in a city that had grown accustomed to seeing Alexandria through her eyes.

But her photographs remain — quiet reminders to pause, look up, and notice the beauty waiting in ordinary moments.

And perhaps that is Lee Moody’s lasting gift to Alexandria:

She taught a city to slow down long enough to see itself.