When Natascha was screaming in pain, they were twins. She was the strong one. She had playmates from the first day in kindergarden, while Mathias was playing alone. She beat up the kids who harassed him, while he was standing by. Mathias is 11 years old today. When Natascha died of cancer they were both seven. Today he's sitting in the livingroom, beating on his keyboard, playing a game on the computer, while his parents are talking about their grief. He has a hard time concentrating on the game, while his parents are talking about his sister. "You're crying all the time, Mom!" he says out loud, while his mother Jeanette talks about the sound of Nataschas shoes, that she still hears from time to time, as if she's running around outside the house.

Martin Carrasquillo as Kanoff Rodrigueiizzhh from The Rodriguezzhh Family, an act of the National Circus of Puerto Rico, hides inside a vending truck at a fundraiser for Bieke Ruiz, an 11-year-old cancer patient, on May 20, 2012 in Cayey, Puerto Rico. Aspiring veterinary, Carrasquillo was introduced to theatre as college student, “is about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes,” said 25-year-old who thinks that the sensibility acquired in the performing art can be applied to working with people on daily life.

Two years old and just about to enter the scene at the Big Trophy Pageant in Vidalia, Georgia. Her mother (the hand on her arm) wanted her name protected. While child beauty pageants have existed for over fifty years, pageants in the United States have seen a recent explosion in popularity, in spite of the fact that for many of the contests, basic entrance fees cost between $200 and $800 dollars, not including optional add-ons. TV shows like ‘Toddlers and Tiaras’ and the like have brought child-beauty competitions into the national spotlight in the US and is now inspiring the start of child beauty pageantry in Europe. The pageants encourage the girls to live up to ideals that many would regard as belonging to the adult world. This has led to much debate about whether these competitions sexualize children and whether they interfere with the mental health and self‐image of the young girls involved. The parents on the other hand argue that the pageants help building up personality and self-confidence of their girls.

Randy Bumann, a 52-year-old retired Air Force veteran, takes an hour to stand from being a farm-hand in Lynn Center to stand and salute roadside along Route 150 as the motorcade precession for Army Cpl. Bryant "B.J." Luxmore of New Windsor was brought home Saturday in Mercer County. Luxmore was killed in Afghanistan on June 10. "It's all heart," Bumann said. "It's just not right to see someone so young, just starting a family be killed like this. It tears me up. He was just a kid."

Owner Russ Wolfe accesses the damage to the Flying W Ranch as a result of the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on July 9, 2012. The wildfire, which started on June 23, destroyed approximately 346 homes, making it the most destructive fire in Colorado state history.

Emma Call of Ironton, Ohio, stands inside the lemon shake up stand she runs alongside her husband, Benny, at the Circleville Pumpkin Show on October 21, 2011. They couple does business at various public events across the region.

Breton Novelli gazes out from his Logan Circle apartment window. He has been sober for more than a year after struggling with substance abuse. Novelli, who faced his addiction during college, said GW offers limited resources to students recovering from addiction. 'It’s kind of impossible for students in recovery here to come together,' Novelli said.

A portrait of Mike Connealy holding Ansco Folding Buster Brown No.1, Model B(1910) through his Mamiya C330, a twin lens reflex camera made in Japan. Mr. Connealy is a local vintage collector with more 100 cameras from USSR, Japan and Germany