Nick DeRenzi is a Bay Area born and raised community photographer, whose work meets at the intersection of documentary and his passion to fight for communities.
As a youth growing up in the Tri-Valley, Nick first picked up a camera to capture his surroundings of early 2000’s skateboarding and youth culture. As his passion for telling stories and documenting grew he eventually found himself on his community college paper, where he gained valuable writing and storytelling skills. After the paper he went on to transfer to San Francisco State University where he earned a degree in Political Science concentrating in community organizing and city administration.
While at SFSU, Nick rediscovered his passion for photography during the Black Lives Matter uprisings of 2015/2016 through the struggle for justice for Mario Woods and the fight to preserve the College of Ethnic Studies at SFSU. Through this period of work he realized the need to show and tell the day to day stories of life and power of communities of color in SF, not just to avoid the white gaze, but to make it be known that we are still here and that we tell our stories.
Now after graduating and being years into the workforce, Nick's photography has taken on a new direction to showcase the resilience of communities most impacted by neoliberal policies, the struggle and fight for self determination, and highlighting those fighting for a new just world.