Award-winning photographer Wei Jian Chan has captured the surreality of locked-down London. Most of the works in his series are collages of two photos, showing for example contrasting graffiti, such as "Hope" and "Hoax." In this shot, cyclists wearing masks pass in front of posters created by artist Mark Titchner, stating "Please Believe These Days Will Pass."

"Not all heroes wear capes!" points out photographer George Coppock. His portraits celebrate the people from the Leeds area who kept the community functioning during the lockdown: the NHS medical staff, postal and supermarket workers, police teachers, farmers, officers and community volunteers. Portrayed above is Natalie, a maternity ward nurse.

In her series, photographer Flora Luna explores the idea that "There was already a filter between people and this world that now is so strong and so much thicker." The pandemic has not only added new physical filters in our interactions with others — such as computer screens, face masks or plexiglass separators — but has also reinforced boundaries with the real world, says the photographer.

Many families had to combine work and school from home amid the uncertainty of an unprecedented crisis: a nightmare. Claire Armitage's feeling of failure was intensified through social media posts featuring the "amazing projects" that enthusiastic parents were doing with their children. Through this series, the photographer found a way to develop a humorous bond with her teens during the lockdown.

When the virus outbreak put a stop to the work of landscape photographer Scott Stevens, he decided to work on photos from his own house, transmitting visually his "emotive response to the current crisis." The series "Under Pressure" combines a daily photo of a barometer with the sky as seen from Stevens' home.

During lockdown, street photographer Chris Silk decided to experiment with recreating the cityscape in his home, using figures from his father's model railway collection and various household objects set in strong shafts of natural light. "I don't think there's any such thing as a boring place to photograph," he said of the unusual working circumstances.

Similarly, award-winning urban wildlife photographer Ian Wade decided to photograph his two-year-old daughter's favorite miniature plastic animals as if they were real-life subjects. He admits he "got many strange looks from people" while lying down on his stomach in a stream to achieve this shot of a toy tiger in the water.

Documentary photographer Justine Desmond got in touch with complete strangers during a period otherwise associated with isolation: "One sunny day during the lockdown I went for a walk with my camera and approached people who caught my eye, and asked them if I could take their portrait and hear about their lockdown experiences," she explained of her series of photos taken from a two-meter distance.

"As much as we are scared of what the virus will bring, we are craving for connection and missing someone more than ever," believes documentary photographer Akiko DuPont. This inspired her to ask people within walking distance of her home in South London to write a letter to someone they've been thinking of during the COVID-19 lockdown. Seven-year-old Sofia wrote to her grandmother in Canada.

Photographer Gemma Griffith's 11-year-old son is a ballet dancer. His training was halted by the lockdown, so he had to practice from home with his "gorgeous long hair flying around," she wrote. Griffith decided she should capture his sessions, "to remember this strange time and to show the stunning beauty of his movements in the ordinary setting of a family home."

Also inspired by ballet, Senem Peace photographed different dancers in lockdown. "We all found ourselves in this unusually hard situation that we couldn't have imagined. 'Fear' suddenly became the main actor in our lives," Peace wrote. She felt that the dancers were a fitting depiction of how "There is always hope. There is always a joy in life."