Washington Biz Journal photographer Lawton retiring after 27 years

Washington Business Journal editor Doug Fruehling posted the following on Facebook:

After 27 years at ACBJ, Joanne S. Lawton, our wonderful and talented photographer, has decided to turn in her dark room key, hang up her Nikon and cancel her E-ZPass. We will celebrate her retirement as a staff soon — and we’ll keep celebrating it through her last day in December.

It’s impossible to put into words how much Joanne has meant to the Business Journal these last three decades. How do you honor someone who has photographed every important person in town and, more importantly, has counseled and nurtured so many of us through the years? She’s always the first to celebrate an engagement, cradle a new baby or provide a shoulder to cry on during a breakup or loss.

Her mind is like a steel trap — she can still find photos from 1997 — and she continues to uncover news in almost every photo shoot she goes on.

We are very sad to see her go, but we are happy that she has made such a monumental decision and has something exciting — and closer to home — lined up post-retirement. (But really, will she ever retire?)