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This is the twenty fifth blog in a series on COVID-19 and lockdown, edited by contemporaryweb@rps.org and contemporarydeputy@rps.org
These images are part of an ongoing personal project, undertaken during the first and second lockdowns in the UK. I wanted to create a series of portraits to celebrate the NHS and members of staff that have had to switch from their normal roles within the hospital to working on the frontline in ITU and on the COVID-19 wards during this pandemic.
Mr. Anthony Barabas, a friend of mine who is a renowned consultant hand trauma plastic surgeon, lives in my village; I happened to bump into him on a dog walk. I learnt that with his routine clinics and procedures being cancelled, he is now working at the local hospital in ITU, and all the usual Theatre staff are now also in ITU and caring for COVID-19 patients on the wards.
I asked Mr Barabas if he would like to sit in for me, which he was very happy to do, and he kindly offered other frontline staff the opportunity to have their portrait taken. In return for their time, each person was given a print of their final image, which will serve as reminder, to themselves and their families, of their efforts and bravery during this very difficult time.
All of the images were submitted to my affiliated picture library and coincidentally one image of Mr Barabas has been licensed to advertise a local hospital in Milan, on bus shelters and posters around the city.
My home studio is five miles from the hospital, and it was arranged as such that the staff came to the studio , appropriately socially distanced, at the end of their shifts in 20-minute time slots. The lighting was set up beforehand and as with most of my portraiture work, I used a mix of coloured gels with a blue fill light from an Octa and warm tone catch lights with a beauty dish as the main light source.
I work with a varied range of clients, notably in the pharmaceutical sector, of which I have found that my style of lighting and retouching lends itself well to.
More of my work can be seen at www.csurbey.com
Instagram: @charliesurbey
Twitter: @charliesurbey
Other blogs in this series:
A photobook project in 80 days
Through Our Lens COVID-19 Project
Photography and Personal Development
Photography as a tool against depression
Emotions and photography during a year of pandemic
A Buddhist Perspective on the Pandemic
Inside Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust ICUs
Hope. Struggle. Change. March 2020 - A Lockdown Diary
‘MentalCollodion’: Supporting Mental Health with Wet Plate Photography during a Pandemic
Together we are stronger – Inside an NHS Hospital during COVID-19