Duchess ‘overwhelmed’ as she selects final Hold Still photos
THE Duchess of Cambridge said she was “overwhelmed” by the response to her photographic lockdown project, as she chose the final images to be featured in a digital exhibition.
She was joined by a panel of judges to select 100 images from more than 31,000 entries in her
Hold Still photography project, which launched with the National Portrait Gallery in May.
The Duchess invited people of all ages across the UK to submit a photo which they had taken during lockdown, and in the six weeks that the project was open, 31,598 images were submitted.
Speaking with the judges on a virtual chat, the Duchess of Cambridge said: “I’ve been so overwhelmed by the public’s response to Hold Still, the quality of the images has been extraordinary, and the poignancy and the stories behind the images have been equally as moving as well.”
Judges on the panel included England’s chief nursing officer Ruth May, director of the National Portrait Gallery Nicholas Cullinan, writer and poet Lemn Sissay and photographer Maryam Wahid.
Commenting on the photographs, Ms May said: “I loved going through this, partly because it gives me a bit of a break from Covid-19 work that we’ve been doing in the NHS, where our NHS and our frontline staff have done an amazing job.”
She added: “I found it hard as well as hysterically funny at times.
“When I was going through them I had a good old giggle as well.”
The Duchess agreed with this, saying: “It’s true, it’s like a huge roller coaster, isn’t it, of emotions? I suppose that’s what everyone has experienced, a reflection of what everyone’s been through at this time.”
She said the images showed “how different and diverse everyone’s experience of Covid-19 has been”, adding: “No one story is the same, everyone’s is unique.
The Hold Still initiative aimed to capture and document “the spirit, the mood, the hopes, the fears and the feelings of the nation” as the UK dealt with the effects of the pandemic.
The digital exhibition will launch on September 14, with a focus on three themes – helpers and heroes, your new normal and acts of kindness.
Mr Cullinan said: “We hope that through this project we really will capture a portrait of our nation, reflecting our collective and individual experiences during these unprecedented times.”