This is Java. I almost walked past him. On this particular day I was focussed on photographing women, but something pulled me into Java's gravitational field.

Sometimes I feel like each human I meet is an angel sent from the Universe to teach me something important.

For many people, God is a bad word. I’m not sure why, but I imagine it’s connected to some sort of negative religious experience (e.g. from childhood).

We all have different definitions of God, which makes the word and concept even more challenging to understand as a society or group.

I have no interest in …

This is Amory. I wish we could share his message with all the youth. There’s a lot of pressure for us to become something THAT IS NOT US.

It’s never too late to receive Amory's wise words.

This is Lisa. After our shoot Lisa started asking me questions about this project. The more I shared, the more excited she got. Finally she asked if she could walk with me and choose the next stranger to take photos of. I said yes!

This is Bernie. He was kind, stylish and handsome. He’s answer at the end feels like a message specifically for me, at this moment in my life.

I’m sure a lot of people might feel the same way.

Thank you Bernie for …

I never knew either of my grandfathers. I was born in Iran, in the middle of a war and my family migrated to Canada when I was a baby.⁣

Therefore, I have very little understanding of what it would be like to have a grandfather in my life and to be honest never felt particularly connected to older men.⁣

But there was something about Hassan. For the first time in my life I …

This is Dimas.

He doesn’t speak any english and I don’t speak any spanish.

This was going to be a big challenge. How could I communicate with him, without a common language? Could I actually take good photos of a total stranger, in less than 5 minutes, with just body language?

This is Andy. Her outfit and her beauty caught me immediately as I walked towards her on Queen Street West. She was kind and considerate throughout our conversation. But she also had clear boundaries and I appreciated that as well.

Parka was the first person I met that jump out at me and asked for me to take his photo. I didn’t even get a chance to approach him. The moment he saw my camera he seized the opportunity and ask if I could take his photo.

It was startling, but also refreshing.

The downside was …

Literally seconds after I photographed Isaac, I noticed Eileen sitting on a bench a few feet away. She was smoking a cigarette and looked very deep in thought. For a moment, I considered walking past because I didn’t want to bother her.

And to be honest, I feel much more shy approaching women.

I am aware that as a man who is a stranger, approaching a woman can be …

Someone once told me that keeping a sincere compliment to yourself is like buying someone a gift, wrapping it up, and never actually giving it to them.

A few years ago I decided to say nice things to people in the moments when I actually felt them.

This is hard, especially with people I don’t know that well. I have this fear that …

This is Eric.

He was super generous with his time and literally brought me into his world, by bringing me into his tattoo shop. His stories about when he first got started 19 years ago as a tattoo artist were really interesting.

When I was a kid I was scared of men with tattoos.

Tattoos were not nearly as popular as they are now, and most humans who had lots of tattoos looked tough … at least that’s what I told myself.

Francis was a kind and handsome man. He was also very funny. He was cracking jokes throughout our shoot about being more famous than Jackie Chan. :)

This photoshoot was also a unique challenge, as Francis wanted to …

Ricardo was down from the very first second I said hi. He was so generous with his time and his heart. Two strangers making art together, just for fun … literally a dream come true for me.

When I approached Omaar, I had no clue he was a professional fashion photographer.

And to be honest, I probably wouldn’t have gone up to him if I knew beforehand.

(In case you didn’t know, it’s super intimidating taking photos of other pro photographers!)

It’s been almost 2 months since I started this photography project and I am shocked by how much I have learned in just a few short weeks.

Each person I meet teaches me something new…It’s been almost 2 months since I started this photography project and I am shocked by how much I have learned in just a few short weeks.

Each person I meet teaches me something new…

I was off my game, walking around the city streets for almost an hour.

I let at least 7 really interesting humans walk right by me; not saying a word, I was frozen by overthinking.

Maybe it was because I showed up so late ...

Most people are totally oblivious to me until I say hi.

Eli, on the other hand… spotted me coming from a mile away.

He actually started talking to me before I could say a word.

The first time I approached Quinn and asked if I could take her photo, she politely said, “No thank you, I’m meeting someone and I’m late.”

I’ve been taking photos of strangers for the past 6 weeks now and surprisingly very few people decline my offer to take their photos.