Barrie Farnsworth talks to award-winning photographer and Covid-19 victim Wesley Kristopher about his very eventful year.
IT was not the start to 2020 that Wesley wanted. First, towards the end of February, he suffered a serious fall from a ledge high above Winnats Pass at Castleton. Then, just two weeks later, he contracted Covid-19 and was in bed for nine days. But, although the after-effects of coronavirus are still with him – “I do get very breathless sometimes when out on walks” – the remainder of 2020 has not been so depressing. After being furloughed through lockdown by his employer Marks & Spencer, he is now back working at one of their Sheffield stores. And the other string to his bow, as a semi-professional photographer, got a major boost when he was selected as runner-up in two categories of the prestigious 2020 Landscape Photographer of the Year Awards. Ironically, it was a shot from the top of Winnats Pass that earned him the runner-up spot in the ‘night-time landscapes’ category… although Wesley says his fall in the snow earlier this year was his own fault: “I had set up my tripod and camera on a ledge – and a gust of wind then blew it over. I could see it below, thought I could reach it, but slipped and fell. “I was lucky, though – I think if I had hit any of the rock outcrops, I wouldn’t be talking to you now.”…