PHOTOGRAPHY

Photography is an art form which has been around long before we were born, and will be around long after we’re gone.

But during the pandemic it became almost impossible for photographers to get out and about the same way they were able to. It’s likely it’ll never be the same, but those people who are able to spread joy through their photos are still out there working and putting smiles on our faces.

There’s hundreds of pictures throughout this book of what it was like to live during Covid-19. As the old saying goes, ‘a picture paints a thousand words’ - and it was never more true than during the pandemic. From photos of empty streets in the town centre, to heartbreaking scenes of people having to talk to their loved-ones through windows - photographers managed to catch the pandemic in the perfect way.

Shaun Colborn, one of the Barnsley Chronicle’s photographers, spoke of how he found the pandemicremembering fondly his first day back on the job. He said: “I remember the first job I had back, it was actually a golden wedding anniversary at a house in Hoyland.

“As I seem to recall, the couple were quaking in their boots at the fact that I was going to come down their drive and get close up to them.

“I did shout from the fence to reassure them that all they actually had to do was come out of the front door and stand there.

“I got my zoom lens out and then photographed them.

“It was actually a lovely day and the couple were over the moon as they saw their picture in the paper. “They thought they were never going to be able to get that.

“I’m sure they went out and bought a copy.”

Shaun added that when he went out to the reopening of the borough’s pubs, it was great to see smiles back on people’s faces.

“That was a classic case of ‘it’s great to be back’ and things will be back as they were - but obviously that wasn’t the case,” he added.

“People were very cautious and they were obviously ordering drinks and they had to be sat down and waiters had to deliver them.

“We knew then that things weren’t going to be the samenot for a period of time at least.

“Thankfully things have gone back to pre-pandemic but even so I still personally know people that haven’t been to a pub since.

“It’s so fearful - my own brother didn’t go into a pub for three or four months, he was petrified.

“The fear that this pandemic caused is unbelievable - wellfounded obviously.

“We lost over 150,000 people, that’s a city the size of Coventry that’s been wiped off the map.”

Shaun admitted things have changed in his industry since the pandemic, but added that as long as you’re safe, you can still take the perfect snap.

“If you’re a responsible photographer you have to be aware that whilst you’re reasonably fit and healthy, you can be harbouring viruses.

“It’s very easy to pass these things onto people.

“Wherever possible I don’t particularly like to get within a couple of metres of people.

“It gives them some space where they feel safe.

“If you liaise with them then everything is alright.

“You just can’t go up to people like you used to and put your arms around them.

“It’s a case of working from a safe distance.”