Thomas and I have called Chicago our home since 2006. TK Photography was born in 2009. Even though we are City folks, our friends and clients have spread from Chicago to the surrounding suburbs over the years. Highland Park has become a huge base where many of our friends and longest clients are. Yesterday morning, we began hearing reports of the shooting at the 4th of July Parade and immediately started checking social media accounts and texting friends and clients who have become friends. Never again do I want to experience waiting to hear if people I love have been gunned down… or hear their heartbreaking stories of narrowly saving their lives and protecting their children. And while we are so far removed from the real trauma of it. Gun violence reaches far beyond the people who were there. The wave of terror stretches to loved ones and communities that are touched in ways we will never know. We are devastated for every person who has EVER had to experience gun violence. Today our thoughts are of the beautiful faces we love, have photographed, or shared moments with who call Highland Park home. We are grateful that we have only heard survival stories from those we know but are devastated for the injured, deceased, and everyone who will be trying to heal from this trauma for the rest of their lives. Gun laws must change. Mental health must be addressed; these can both happen simultaneously. It isn’t guns or mental health. It is BOTH.
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