Ontario man uses toy bear to show life amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Photographer using teddy to capture isolation life Ontario photographer Joseph Leduc shares how he's making quarantine 'bear'able by using a teddy bear to capture life amid the pandemic.

TORONTO — One Ontario man is using a giant toy bear and his photography skills to showcase the lingering grief and unfamiliar calm in people’s lives as the novel coronavirus changes our world.

Around the world, people are telling their stories as they live through the shared experience of life in quarantine.

Some have taken to social media to post videos of dance and baking accomplishments, while others have quietly captured the events in their journals and art.

Former Newmarket resident Joseph Leduc, who now lives in Brighton, Ont., decided to use his camera.

Leduc said the project began when he and the bear were confined to their home and had nowhere to go due to his health vulnerabilities. He said he's even taken a self-potrait with his bear.

“It started because I’m not allowed to leave the house, my wife gets all the groceries and everything,” he told CTV News Toronto from his home.

“I would love to take pictures with the bear at the beach or the park, but the park is closed, and I’m locked in the house so the bear is too.”

A photographer for 45 years, Leduc said he’s been all over the house with the bear trying to come up with ideas that will spark something in the people who end up seeing his photos.

“I try to make people have some sort of reaction. I want people to laugh or smile or feel emotional or feel something new,” he said.

“If you don’t impact someone then it doesn’t matter … There’s more to a photo then just shooting a camera at something.”

Leduc said he’s trying to give people something to look forward to each day as he posts a new image of the bear up to something new. He also mentioned there’s a fluffy rat in most of his photos secretly placed for people to find.

“I always think of different things I can do, I try to see things differently and to some people that may seem a little bit warped, but I want to do something creative.”

Here are some of the photos he’s taken:

Netflix and chill 

Toilet paper hoarder 

Back off remember the six feet rule 

Looking for the cure 

When will we be able to play with my friends and go to school again?

What do you want to do? What do you want to do?

Cooking gone wrong 

Party of one 

Stay away social distancing

Wish we could be together