A photo featured in the new book 'Alone Together: A Pandemic Photo Essay.' (Leah Hennel)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)/rdnewsNOW

a 'heavy' endeavour

AHS photojournalist publishes book capturing adaptive, celebratory sides of COVID-19 pandemic

May 23, 2022 | 4:37 PM

A photojournalist working for Alberta Health Services has published a new book full of pictures documenting the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 240-page book entitled Alone Together: A Pandemic Photo Essay documents how citizens, doctors, nurses and patients in Alberta have adapted and found safe new ways to socialize, celebrate and work during the global health crisis.

“I’ve covered a lot in my career but never anything this heavy, this important,” says Leah Hennel, the award-winning photographer, who joined AHS in March 2019 — one year before the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the province.

“Other stories I’ve followed have been brief – a day or two, maybe a week. I cover them, then move on to the next assignment. This one, though, has been unrelenting. Over the past two years, I’ve witnessed a lot of death and sadness, and a lot of grief. But I have also witnessed plenty of happy moments and got to experience first-hand the goodness in people.”

(Alberta Health Services)

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Throughout the last two years, many of Hennel’s photos have been shared in the media, and by AHS on its various social media channels.

“None of us fully appreciated the lasting impact that COVID-19 would have on our healthcare system,” says Tanya Harvey, a registered nurse at Foothills Medical Centre who’s pictured in the book. “Leah’s images are honest, real and capture the shared experiences of patients, families and healthcare workers as we navigated — and continue to navigate — the unprecedented demands COVID-19 has placed on our system.”

The book has been published by Rocky Mountain Books, and is also available as an e-book, with proceeds from all sales going to health foundations to support the work of AHS.