Kate Middleton Shares the ’Harrowing’ Image That Helped Inspire Her New Photo Project
Kate Middleton is sharing poignant pictures of life in lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic as she launches an inspiring new community photo project.
Kate, who is a keen amateur photographer herself, appeared on ITV's This Morning on Thursday to promote a new photography project called "Hold Still," which is seeking to find 100 portraits capturing a snapshot of the U.K. during the extraordinary times of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think we’ve all seen some incredible images out there and heard some amazing stories and some desperately sad stories, but also some really uplifting ones as well. And I really hope that through a project like this we might be able to showcase some of those stories to document and share a moment in time I suppose that we are all experiencing," she said.
The project includes three categories: Helpers and Heroes, Your New Normal and Acts of Kindness.
Kensington Palace Instagram Kate Middleton
ITV/Shutterstock Kate Middleton on "This Morning"
Of the Helpers and Heroes category, she said, “I think we’ve all been struck by the most amazing images that have come out recently. I know over the past few weeks we’re going through some desperately sad times and all those working on the frontline are really showcasing the hardship that they’re going through, some of the tragedy that they’re witnessing and things like that.”
One picture of a nurse with bruises on her face after wearing PPE in Nottinghamshire really caught her attention.
Aimée Goold
“It’s a really harrowing image actually and some of the images are so important to document at this time. They’re the things that not everybody at home is going to witness, but I think it is so important for all of us to be able to see these sorts of images to showcase what some of those on the frontline are really experiencing,” she said.
For the Your New Normal category, Princess Kate spoke about the image of two young girls — Florence, 3, and Edith, 1 — visiting their grandparents amid the lockdown and connecting with them by tapping on the window that separated them.
“Moments like this I think are so special. There are some desperately sad stories out there, but moments like this are really heartwarming to see, that actually there is a connection there. It’s different, it is the new normal for all of us but actually those moments can take place and I think it really resonated with me that photograph,” she said.
And for Acts of Kindness, she spoke about the moment when 83-year-old Phyllis Taylor was handed her Sunday lunch through the window by her daughters in Warwickshire.
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“There’s been a huge number of images, well lots of images of care workers and of those working on the frontline but actually the community support, those small acts of kindness go such a long way and I think they should be celebrated, those are the positive stories in this really difficult time. So, I think it’s really great to capture those sorts of stories and experiences as well," she shared.
Kate, who often shares photos she has taken of her three children, was asked to share her photography tips.
BBC Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Louis, Prince George and Princess Charlotte
“Well, I’m very much an amateur photographer, I sort of learn along the way," she said. "But actually during this time I have spent lots of time picking up my camera and taking photographs of the children because they are always around us and we are doing stuff together, which has been great.”
“I think one of the fantastic things about photography is really capturing that moment, so it's not stage-setting it, it’s not setting it up perfectly, it's not clearing your house away so you’ve got the perfect studio setup, but it's really capturing those moments that feel real to you and that capture moments or an expression or a feeling, I suppose. And that’s the power of photography, it can capture a moment and tell a story.”
Submissions for "Hold Still" can be made between May 7 and June 18 at npg.org.uk.
