This article provides an overview of some of the research performed in the author's group over the past few years. This includes work on organic mixed-valence species with photoisomerizable components, as well as studies of proton-coupled electron transfer between photoexcited metal complexes and organic reaction partners. This research relies on a combination of synthetic work with optical spectroscopic and electrochemical studies, and the results are relevant in the greater context of light-to-chemical energy conversion.