Today, we want to highlight some of our outstanding community partners who have been working with us to help families affected by the California wildfires. Here is our interview with K from Highlights and Shadows, a photography-based non-profit group that helps advocate for other non-profits and community events! 

Q. What is Highlights and Shadows?

A. It’s a group that a couple friends from the church and I created as a nonprofit organization. The purpose of the group is to document and publicize other nonprofit organizations’ events and efforts. We offer photography and videography services for a discounted price for community groups and help to engage with the community

Q. Why did you guys start this group?

A. We wanted to bring awareness to certain issues within the community that sometimes go unnoticed. Pictures are a good way to raise awareness. So through our photography work, we hope to inspire and make people think, “wow! Where is that? What is that? I want to be a part.” We also were inspired from all the volunteering events we did at SFZC, because we noticed that none of these nonprofits we worked with had a great media or publicity team. But we wanted to help make them known too.

Q. Who’s part of the team and what role does each person play?

A. All the members are given the opportunity to receive photography training for free, which has allowed even people new to photography to join us. So far, we have 11 people in our team of various skills and experience levels. I love working with everyone, because we fill each other where we are lacking and it’s great to see everyone grow in their passion and skill.

Q. Tell me about the work you are doing for the families affected by the fires.

A. From 2018 to 2020, California endured some of its worst forest fires on record and many families lost their homes to the fires. Along with their homes, they also lost things like their photo albums which contained a lot of memories. We know we can’t replace those memories, but we want to help them make great new memories. So we are offering free photoshoots for families affected by the fires. It’s meaningful to meet these families and help them in this small way that brings hope and focuses on the future, not just on what was lost.

Q. Why do you love photography?

A. A picture is worth a thousand words. I’m a quiet person so I let the photos do the talking instead!

Q. How did you personally get interested in photography? 

A. I started seeing the world in a different perspective ever since I was young. I first held a yellow film Kodak camera at the age of five. I didn’t know it needed batteries for it to turn on. I didn’t know it needed film for it to capture whenever I clicked it. Despite not knowing how it works, I still played with it many times. Even though I didn’t know many things at that time, at such a young age, there’s one thing for sure I figured out and knew — to become a professional photographer.

If you or someone that you know would like to receive a free family photoshoot to replace precious memories lost in the fires, please feel free to contact us at contact @ sfzion.org.