A portrait taken by a Croydon photographer of her Hungarian grandfather has been chosen for the Duchess of Cambridge's new project documenting UK life during the coronavirus pandemic.

'Hold Still' was created by Kate Middleton in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery and invited UK residents to submit photos documenting their experiences of the pandemic and of lockdown.

Amid over 31,000 entries, Freelance Photographer Nina Robinson's black and white portrait of her granddad Michael was selected to be in the 100 photographs included in the final exhibition.

She told the Croydon Guardian that she'd never anticipated hearing anything more after submitting her photo, which came about amid a surge in creativity she experienced during lockdown.

"I never, ever expected this. I came across the competition on TV about half way through the series I was doing and I thought I might as well enter one. I'm not going to get in but I'll do it anyway and see what happens.

"I really didn't expect to be chosen.

"During lockdown I felt more creative than ever...it gave me more creative space and time to do that," Nina said.

"So I thought I might as well do a series on the theme of lockdown because it's a really important thing to document.

"I wanted to get as big a variety of shots as possible. I don't know what made me want to take a picture of my granddad in a mask.

"I think maybe it was to show the vulnerability of old people and vulnerable people at this time," she added.

Michael Csaplar is Hungarian-born and has already lived a remarkable life.

Nina described how he was involved in the renowned Hungarian Uprising against the USSR in 1956, fleeing to the UK after it was crushed by the Red Army.

And while his mind may not be as sharp as it was back then, there is a keenness clearly visible in his eyes seen over the top of the face mask he wore when the photo was taken.

"He was smiling, I didn't tell him to but he is a smiley person anyway," Nina said, describing the moment she took the photo.

"English isn't his first language and he doesn't catch everything. He's not very good at understand things in general. He obviously knew there was a pandemic but he didn't realize how serious it was..." she added.

Originally from Newcastle, Nina's own experience of the pandemic during the months of lockdown in Croydon was one of solidarity shared by many across the UK.

"I think it's definitely brought everyone together, an increased sense of community," she said.

"There were a lot of people on my street offering to help like delivering food to vulnerable people and so on.

"The Crystal Palace locals group, there was loads and loads of activity on there with people offering their help.

"I don't know if that will stick, I hope it will as it's really important and I've never seen it brought out before this and maybe it's something to learn from."

Click here for a link to Nina's blog and more on her stunning entry into the Hold Still project.