Janet Holmes always loved animals, but for many years she was afraid to get involved with rescuing them because she couldn’t imagine how she would deal with the heartbreak. She was almost fifty when she finally acknowledged that animals needed her more than she needed to be comfortable, and so she began volunteering with rescue groups as a caregiver and photographer. As she spent more time experiencing animals as individuals through the lens of her camera, she began to question how she could profess to love them, yet continue exploiting them for food, clothing and other materials. She committed to become vegan and use photography to advocate for animal liberation.
Janet completed the International Center of Photography's Continuing Education Track Program in 2015. She was recognized by Photolucida as a Critical Mass Top 200 Finalist in 2017 and 2018 and won the People’s Choice Award for her series on rescued chickens, included in United Photo Industries’ multi-city exhibition The Fence 2018. In 2020, Kehrer Verlag published her photobook Nest: Rescued Chickens at Home. She works primarily on a non-profit basis, donating her services and the majority of her profits to support animal rescue.
