It’s been over 2 decades since I’ve been to Toronto, I spent a wonderful summer there but haven’t been back since.   Toronto is a great city, with something for everyone.

I started at the beautiful home of my client, the mission was to capture the 5 visiting grandkids (under the age of 2.5), with a little help from ‘Mr. Jelly Bean’, ‘Mr. Bubble’ and ‘Slap me 5’ mission accomplished.

From there I was off to the natural light studio of my dear friend Josee Caza for a session with the funnest (grammar?) family ever.  Meirav was celebrating her Bat Mitzvah with her ten year old twins brothers, Avi and Koby, and adorable 6 year old sister, Kayla.  They are all pro’s, I was lucky enough to photography them almost 2 years ago in New York.

After that session I went to the Art & Design District with Josee, stopping at the ‘Brooklyn’ bar to make me feel at home, passing the funky Drake Hotel, a lovely boutique hotel and it’s next door ‘General Store’, which sells antique items and just enjoying the outdoors and stopping in various galleries.

While I was enjoying the city scene, my plane was getting ready to take off back to NY, I was scheduled for 20:00 which I didn’t put much thought into, it’s at 10:00pm, right?  Wrong!!  I realized too late.  Travel is not without it’s challenges, being away from my family and it’s totally exhausting but still I love it.  I love it so much I will be back on flight out to Chicago this upcoming Sunday.  Stay tuned.

This morning my son, Mendel, put on Tefillin for the first time.  According to Jewish custom a boy becomes a man at the age of 13, his Bar Mitzvah.  Once he is 13 he is required to put on Tefillin every day.  As is tradition in our family, the boys start putting Tefillin on 60 days before their actual Bar Mitzvah.  This is a very father/son type of experience, but I was up at the crack of dawn with my camera in hand to record this momentous occasion.  It was beautiful and emotional.

Here is Mendel feeling really good after saying a traditional ‘Mymer’ flawlessly.