The Duchess of Cambridge is putting her passion for photography to good use during the coronavirus pandemic.
On Thursday, Kate Middleton announced the launch of her new community project called Hold Still in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery of London, one of her many patronages.
The announcement was made in a tweet from Kensington Palace asking people “to help capture the spirit, the hopes, the fears and feelings of the U.K. as we continue to deal with the coronavirus. #HoldStill2020.”
Of the final entries, 100 of the shortlisted portraits will be featured in a gallery without walls, “a one-of-a-kind digital exhibition open to all this August.”
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The program is open to people of all ages and abilities in the U.K. and is free to enter. Photographs can be taken on phones or cameras, and each image “will be assessed on the emotion and experience it conveys, rather than its photographic quality.”
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The duchess, 38, is more often than not the talent behind her children’s portraits and studied art history as a university student, so it’s no surprise she’d want to use her talent this way.
Middleton appeared on This Morning with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on Thursday to talk about the launch and what it’s been like for her and her family of five in isolation.
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“It’s extraordinary,” she said on the show, per the Manchester Evening News. “I’m sure you’re experiencing the same yourselves and your families and things.
“We’re stuck into homeschooling again. They’re unprecedented times, really. But no, we’re fine, thank you for asking.”
The duchess added that her family is keeping in touch by using FaceTime daily.
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