A CONSULTANT at The Grange University Hospital has received a prestigious award for his photography, detailing life on the frontline during the coronavirus pandemic.
Nick Mason has been named the winner of Amateur Photography's Power of Photography Awards.
The award is one of the most coveted in photography, and the judges said that when it came to deciding "there was a clear winner".
Clapping a patient leaving ICU. Images of staff clapping patients as they left ICU or hospital were frequently seen during the pandemic but tell only half of the story
The temporary mortuary constructed at Llanfrechfa Grange to accommodate 480 bodies and photographed just after the last body had left brings home the terrifying leathality of the Covid-19 virus
Mortuary technicians Vince Lovell and Molly Murphy had never previously experienced anything like the increase in deaths from Covid-19 that they were required to deal with
They described Mr Mason's work - depicting the pandemic at Newport's Royal Gwent Hospital - as "a truly impressive individual and image maker who was working right at the front line of one of the biggest emergencies this country has ever seen."
They added: "With unique access – and a special viewpoint from which to capture their shots – medical staff have provided an at-times unflinching look behind the scenes of an all-encompassing global tragedy.
"There really could only be one choice of subject matter for our Power of Photography award this year, and it is with great gratitude that we give it to Nick Mason for his incredible work both behind the lens and in his day job."
Two doctors handover patients at the start of a new shift. PPE made even the simplest of tasks onerous and difficult
Clinical psychologist Sarah Flowers
Mr Mason was working as a consultant in intensive care at the Gwent throughout the first wave of the pandemic, and has since moved to The Grange.
A keen documentary photographer, with experience working with mountain porters in Nepal, Mr Mason knew that what was happening was historic and needed to be documented.
He said: "I was very attuned to the fact that this was an unprecedented moment, and I wanted to create a historic archive of images.
"It became apparent that there were really important stories that needed to be told.
Suspended between life and death a patient with severe respiratory failure from Covid-19 is ventilated in the prone position
PPE marks on the face of staff nurse Dave Rees
Ffion Wilkins was a final year student nurse at the start of the pandemic and completed her training early to work in ITU
"The only way we got through the first wave of the pandemic in ICU was because of the help we received from people coming in from other areas of the hospital. None of them had any idea what it was like to work in ICU.
"If you are working in an operating theatre for example, you largely experience elective surgeries where you expect patients to get better and go home after the operation.
"They were then being thrust into this environment with very little or no experience of it and I think many found it incredible traumatic and stressful.
"And I felt it was really important to document there really heroic and courageous efforts that they were making to Prevent ICU and the wider NHS becoming overwhelmed."
Recovery nurse Alex Smith who normally works in orthopaedic theatres and who volunteered to work in ICU, at the end of a long shift in PPE
Staff nurse Clare Greenstreet and physiotherapist Bryony Hatchley discuss the results of a blood gas test which gives crucial information about the oxygen levels in a patient’s blood and whether they are responding to treatment
A kidney dialysis machine purifies the blood of a proned patient with kidney failure. Mortality in ICU patients with kidney failure complicating Covid-19 is over 70 per cent
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Asked if being so close to the situation and the subjects he was photographing made the process more difficult, Mr Mason said the reverse was true.
"It felt like a privilege to be able to document what my colleagues, my friends, were going through," he said.
"I have always wanted to document the life in our ICU because it was something I felt very passionate about and I think the best photographs come when there is a connection."
When he found out that he had won the prestigious Amateur Photography award, Mr Mason was stunned.
A proning team prepares to prone a patient with severe respiratory failure. Proned patients are left lying on their front for at least 16 hours a day
Removing PPE, particularly at the end of a long shift required as much care and attention as donning it. Like many former ICU nurses, Paul Taylor returned to ICU to offer his experience and support to his colleagues
Beds between beds. At one point the Royal Gwent ICU was operating at around 300 per cent of its normal capacity necessitating placing beds in between the normal bed spaces to create room for ventilated patients
He said: "It was a combination of amazement and I felt incredible humbled as well, because when you look back at all of the past winners it a real who's who of the very best documentary photographers around.
"I was pleased as well, because it meant I had achieved what I set out to: I had done justice to the people I work with.
"For all the interest in my photographs on national television, and in the press, plus all the talk of exhibitions and books, the greatest compliments of all have been to hear those colleagues say, 'You have told our story'."
You can view more of Nick Mason's photography here.
All pictures: Nick Mason
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