Photographer sets out to photograph homeless, finds her long-lost dad

Diana Kim, a 30-year-old photographer living in Hawaii, photographs the homeless, aiming to tell their story to her community.

Kim started the photo essay as a law student in 2003, but years later, she came across something unbelievable while shooting.

In 2012, while she was working on her project in the streets of Honolulu, she stumbled upon a man who looked very familiar -- her father. Kim's long-lost father was unexpectedly one the homeless people that she was photographing. She says that when she first saw her father on the streets, it was "devastating," recalling that he was considerable thinner and didn't recognize her.

After finding out that she had found her father, she struggled to reconnect with him and break through the uncomfortable barrier that came from a lack of connecting. Kim decided to photograph "the man she thought she had lost." After photographing her father, she shared the series with NBC Asian America.

More photos from the homelessness crisis in Hawaii:

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