I loved Ezra’s expression as he sees a garden truck pass by…priceless!!

I love how Leah and Ezra’s grandparents are just in-love with their grandchildren!

While walking around the gardens, I found the steps below. I though it would be awesome to get Ezra and Leah there for some lovely shots. In order to persuade them (while playing “circles” around the stairs), we gave them some candy! The end result you can view for yourself! Pure delight!

Leah’s mom wanted a portrait of Leah reading, but Leah wasn’t too cooperative. So in order to get her in that moment, I put myself in front of her at a distance and began interacting with Ezra while pointing my lens at her. After a couple of shots, mission accomplished! I particularly love the one below!

Towards the end of the session, we thought it would be nice to capture them interacting with each other. Ezra and Leah looove playing together! This was self evident as they played with their Legos.

Now, the World Cup is in its final stages, and with every passing game, the tournament becomes more exciting. Victory is paramount and is equally celebrated with extraordinary enthusiasm. Germany played against Argentina in the Quarterfinals yesterday and I decided to watch it with hundreds of Germans at The Musket, a great German-Austrian restaurant west of Toronto. During the game, the atmosphere in the restaurant was explosive with every German goal scored! After the game, victory was celebrated in the streets as if Germany had already won the World Cup. The Germans were champions for a day! I was fortunate to be there and celebrate with them! Enjoy the photographs below:

Germany still has a long road ahead with a game against Spain. Let’s hope they can come out of that game victorious as well! Cheers!

My lovely wife, Andrea, enjoying the sun and  trying to tug one of those tiny boats!

Supporting my German team even when there was no game that day! What can I say… I have World Cup fever!!

Of course, we couldn’t go to a Tall Ship Festival and not take a photograph by one of those classic wheels!

Nonetheless, I felt well protected because the city of Toronto made sure police presence was overwhelming. In my opinion, these guys are the real heroes. They not only had to endure extremely long hours of work, but also the verbal, physical, and psychological abuse of many of the protesters.

I am in full agreement that the world needs change and I align my self with those peaceful protesters who expressed their feelings and view points, but I feel no empathy for those who protested just to be rebelious, those who covered their faces so as to not be identified by police, and those anarchists who participated in Black Bloc tactics (which caused most of the damage). In my travels across Downtown Toronto, I was shocked by the amount of people that had no real cause to protest, but where either acting silly or provoking the police.

It was heart breaking to see my beautiful city of Toronto suffer from the abuse of criminals who had nothing better to do but to cause violence for the joy of being rebellious. Martin Luther King Jr. once said:

“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars… Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that”

At one point, I encountered a group of masked individuals. I couldn’t resist the temptation of asking them why they wore masks. Their response: Let’s just say it wasn’t very polite! Notice the dude in the yellow jacket wearing the gas mask! Weird!!!

Global social issues are extremely complex because of the many factors involved. Do they have a solution? Sure! I think the real solution is by changing ourselves. If each and every one of us strive to become better persons who live justly and with faith; if we uphold human dignity and defend life from conception, till natural death; and if we educate our children with those same principles, then we are changing the world one person at a time. Imposing, oppressing, or forcing a people to live or act in a certain way will get you nowhere.  I leave you with yet another Martin Luther King Jr. Quote:

“Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love.”