This is a promotional post.
I have no moral qualms as I seem to draw attention this series of pictures, because they are not mine, I’m not the author of any of the photos and they are not hosted in my own pages. As a result I have no personal advantage in inviting the few casual virtual passers-by to visit these galleries and the whole saga of the Bear family, besides the pleasure of sharing the result of cooperation among many photographers from so many countries all over the world.

For all those – a great majority indeed– who have never heard about Frimpong’s project, I might introduce it in few words, even though you can find all the story and information, in greater detail, by visiting Frimpong’s pages.

Frimpong Bear made his first public appearance in 2004.
He was created by the imagination of a couple of friends who intended to build up concrete links among photographers all over the world, links that are based on humour, creativity and funny complicity.
Frimpong the Travelling Bear has developed amazingly - during the years- a real personality, with his habits, peculiarities, and features.
This may cause you a little sarcastic grin if you have never met him, but those people who have (all adults by the way) have always found out that Frimpong is more than a simple stuffed toy and all of them have enjoyed the experience.

The dynamic is simple: anyone can invite Frimpong to visit their town; Frimpong arrives by normal mail and spends some time with every host, who takes photos of him visiting the area, as if he were a real guest. Then at the end of every stay, Frimpong is mailed to the next host, who in turn will forward him on.

So far Frimpong has already visited more than 80 different places in many different countries.
The photographers who invite him are not necessarily members of PBase; many people during these years of his career as a Travelling Bear have discovered him and invited him without being PBase photographers.

Frimpong has had the opportunity to be invited to the White House in Washington DC, he has met different local authorities in the Netherlands, he has been introduced to artists and he has been warmly welcome from all kinds of people in many nations.
What is important to underline is that Frimpong is materially present in all the photos, he’s really there where the photos are taken and every photographer who takes him around could tell so many funny anecdotes. In some cases Frimpong was recognized by passers-by, who had seen him on the Internet, so there were surrealistic dialogues of this kind between two adult people, the photographer and the passer-by:
“Excuse me, is he Frimpong, the real Frimpong?”
“Yes, it’s Frimpong the Travelling Bear”
“Oh I have followed his adventures on the Internet. How nice to meet him in person, may I have a souvenir photo with him?”
And so on and so on…

Of course to make the project work it is necessary to enjoy the engagement of some volunteers, who compose Frimpong’s Staff.
They keep track of contacts with all the photographers, plan Frimpong’s schedule, edit the galleries and do in short all that Frimpong requires them to do.
I’m glad to be one of them.
Exactly because I know what there is behind Frimpong’s project and I have realized that he has always brought a smile and a moment of fancy amusement to many people, I have decided to promote his galleries because I do think he deserves it.

Many photographers on PBase promote their new galleries, ask occasionally for comments or votes, leave comments to others and get attention in return. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that, since everybody can choose the best way to make one’s own work visible.
But Frimpong doesn’t take advantage of any of these tools.
He doesn’t write to anyone, he doesn’t leave comments and he doesn’t respond to the comments he receives either.
After all how could one expect that from him? He’s always busy travelling constantly from country to country, and then…he’s a bear!

In spite of that he has received attention for all these years and he gets invitations on a regular basis. Unluckily not all the invitations can be accepted, because Frimpong tends to go always to different destinations and if he has already been in a specific place he doesn’t accept a second invitation to the same place.

We – the members of Frimpong’s staff – take also care of his mail, since he receives many letters from people who want to invite him, who need to know more about the project and so on.
As might be expected, we receive some negative remarks, but they are objectively very few, as far as I can remember no more than 4 or 5 during all the period I have been on the staff.
They were from people who had not understood the spirit of the projects and were annoyed to see adult people “playing” with a teddy bear.

Then there is Mrs Violet Bear.
There are but two characters in this Bear saga, Frimpong the Travelling Bear and his elderly and amazing aunt, Mrs Violet Bear.
Violet has a very individual personality too. She receives many personal letters and she responds to all of them.
I think there is no need to say more.

If you have a moment of spare time and you are in a merry and fanciful disposition of mind, you might to take a look at Frimpong’s adventures.
There you’ll discover all the destinations of his trips and you’ll enjoy the photos taken by many different, enthusiastic and often very skilled photographers (every gallery is based on the photos taken by a single photographer, so the number of different photographers who have joined the projects so far is the same as the number of different galleries).

At present Frimpong is posting the photos taken during his stay in Qatar with John Thompson.
You can see them by clicking here