Hold Still 📸

A national photography project with The National Portrait Gallery

Cogapp have been the National Portrait Gallery’s website partner for more than two decades. Today we are proud to be supporting the launch of ‘Hold Still’, a national photography project to capture the nation’s mood during these unprecedented times.

Nurse Aimée Goold shared this picture of herself after a long shift © Aimée Goold

Announced this morning in the press and on national television by the Duchess of Cambridge, the project will be open to contributions until 18th June 2020. The Duchess of Cambridge said:

We’ve all been struck by some of the incredible images we’ve seen which have given us an insight into the experiences and stories of people across the country.”

Hold Still aims to capture a portrait of the nation, the spirit of the nation, what everyone is going through.

Photographs reflecting resilience, bravery, kindness — all those things that people are experiencing.

Project Themes

Hold Still has three core themes:

• Helpers and Heroes
• Your New Normal
• Acts of Kindness

One hundred shortlisted portraits will feature in a virtual exhibition on the Gallery’s website and a selection of images will also be shown across the UK later in the year.

Florence and Edith visiting their great grandparents in Norfolk © Chris Page

The project is completely free and open to all ages and abilities. Images must involve people, and can be captured on phones or cameras. Each image will be assessed on the emotion and experience it conveys rather than its photographic quality or technical expertise.

Get snapping and don’t forget to share your images on social media #HoldStill2020.

For more information and to enter your photograph visit the Hold Still page on the National Portrait Gallery website.

https://www.npg.org.uk/hold-still/

If your institution is thinking about launching a similar initiative and you’d like some help, please do get in touch.