"Somewhere Beyond The Sea"
At the beach of Ault, France. At the time I took this photo, we were in very unstable situation. We had left Japan, gone to England and then Spain, left both places with crushed dreams, ended up in France while we were feeling so unsure about our future...
I started taking these Teddy Bear photos in Autumn, 2002.
About the time we decided to leave Japan, I suddenly realized that even though I had taken so many photographs over the years, there weren't many "personal" ones. What I mean is that there were so many photos of scenery, flowers, animals, etc. which could be somebody else's, but there weren't many noticeably "me" kind of photos...
As I always loved Teddy Bears and enjoyed making them, quite naturally I was drawn to take photos of these lovely cuddly toys. First, it was any Teddy Bears, but eventually, it settled down with these two bears in the above photo. I started taking these bears everywhere looking for some photo opportunities.
My travel photos used to be just photos of famous places and pretty sceneries, but since I started taking photos of those places with these Teddy Bears, somehow they became more personal and, to some extent, emotional. So far, these bears traveled to many countries including France, UK, Spain, Middle East, Mediterranean islands and etc., and from a desert to a mountain top.
Am I going to continue taking their photos? Definitely. Am I going to take them to every country I would visit in the future? Certainly. Though these little bears created a little problem. Now they became so important for me that I cannot pack them in my suitcase anymore. What would happen if the suitcase get lost? Now I have to carry cameras and Teddy Bears in my carry-on bag.....
