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All you need is love: stranded photographers want to document your moments of happiness




By Brock Weir

When a love is strong, it can be an unstoppable force – even if you're stranded in a van at Canadian Tire.
It is helping to keep high the spirits of Portuguese photographers Sofia Alves and Ivo Tavares when their road trip across the Americas documenting love in all its forms hit a significant speedbump here in town over the weekend. But, every cloud has a silver lining and while they camp out in the Canadian Tire parking lot through the rest of this week, they want to hear from you.
Do you have a wedding in the next couple of days? Or maybe a birthday party for kid, or a new baby being brought home from the hospital? They are looking to document your love, free of charge, for their ongoing photography project World You Need Is Love.
The couple loaded up their vintage white camper van in Sudbury, where Sofia was born and spent the first year of her life, in early July. Since then, they have been driving south, stopping in communities along the way, capturing moments of love throughout Ontario.
Their journey, however, started much earlier – over two years ago when both swiped right on Tinder, the popular online dating app. They might have been separated by over 50 km at the time, but a connection is a connection and they pursued it – finding not only a love connection but a philosophical one as well.
“It is not very romantic, but it worked out!” says Maria, making a statement with which, considering the growing popularity of the app, some might disagree. “But, we found that the news is always so bad. Every day there is news about war, people hurting –“
“Walls,” interjects Ivo.
“And we decided love is all we need.”
Ivo says they are “not so naïve to think all people are good, but most of us are good people, want to help, want to get along, and sometimes we forget that and the world becomes all dark.”
Since they set out from Sudbury, they have been charting memories of a lifetime for people within the photographs, and sometimes images that, to some, might be fleeting moments.
They just didn't expect to be on the receiving end of such help themselves. While looking for weddings and “moments” in and around Aurora this week to contribute to the project, by Monday they had already been humbled by the generosity they experienced, whether it has been Canadian Tire making them feel at home or an area gym letting them use their showers to freshen up.
So, if they set out to prove that sometimes we forget that – maybe it has proved that all is not lost.
Their trip started up with a helping hand, reconnecting with friends in Sudbury who helped secure and kit out the van.
They timed their journey just right so they could drive in Canada throughout most of July and into August, drive through the United Sates for the balance of this month and working their way through Mexico in September, before ending up in Brazil by December.
In fact, they had already made it to Toronto by this past weekend but decided to double back to Aurora to catch a sunset when fate decided they should stick around.
“The people are fantastic,” says Ivo of the journey so far. “The weather has been a little bit crazy, but so far so good.”
“We're happy to have started here in Canada, and even though we have had this problem, people have been amazing,” adds Sophia.
“This van is my living room now!” jokes Ivo. “So far, this van experience has been the most memorable.”
If you'd like to top their van experience, have your moment of love documented for free and, in turn, share your love with the world, you can contact Ivo and Sofia through their website worldyouneedislove.com.
Excerpt: When a love is strong, it can be an unstoppable force – even if you’re stranded in a van at Canadian Tire. It is helping to keep high the spirits of Portuguese photographers Sofia Alves and Ivo Tavares when their road trip across the Americas documenting love in all its forms hit a significant speedbump here in town over the weekend. But...
Post date: 2017-08-01 20:00:56
Post date GMT: 2017-08-02 00:00:56
Post modified date: 2017-08-01 20:00:56
Post modified date GMT: 2017-08-02 00:00:56
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