About

Hi! I’m Jo-Anne, an award-winning photographer, author, photo editor, mentor, and sought-after speaker. Through my long-term body of work, We Animals, I’ve documented our complex relationship with animals around the globe. Since 1998, my work has taken me to over sixty countries. In 2019, I founded We Animals, a non-profit photo agency that advocates for animals through photojournalism.

My books include HIDDEN: Animals in the Anthropocene with co-editor Keith Wilson, Captive, We Animals, and The Animals are Leaving Us, written by Martin Rowe. Thousands of my images are available at the We Animals stock site. I’ve been a proud jury member for World Press Photo, Big Picture,  Mont Photo, and others.

My photography and writing have been published in places like VII Foundation, National Geographic and National Geographic Traveler, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Vox,  Lens Culture, Canadian Geographic, DAYS Japan, Helsingin Sanomat, Der Spiegel, PhotoLife magazine, Feature Shoot, and many more. In addition, my images have been used by hundreds of organizations, publishers, and academics.

Recent awards include The Festival of Ethical Photography 2025 & 2019; PhotoVogue 2024; Humans & Nature 2024; Siena International Photography Awards 2023; Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2022, 2021, 2018, 2017; reFOCUS awards 2023; International Photography Awards 2022; Big Picture Grand Prize 2021; AEFONA’s First Prize, Man and Nature category 2021; Nature Photographer of the Year 2020; Global Peace Award 2018.

In 2021, HIDDEN was awarded “Photography Book of the Year” by Pictures of the Year International (PoYI), and IPPY’s “Outstanding Book of the Year Most Likely to Save the Planet”. It was incredible to see the book projected at the Visa pour l’Image photojournalism festival in 2022.

One of my passions is speaking at schools, universities, and conferences on the subjects of photojournalism, the human-animal relationship, social change, and empathy. I do this in person and virtually. Recent keynote speaking engagements have included the European Parliament, WildPhotos, Harvard Law School, the GDT Nature Photography Festival, the AVA conferences, and many virtual workshops and presentations. In 2022, I was a Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the University in Denver’s Department of Law, and in 2018, a visiting scholar at the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies.

I was the subject of the critically acclaimed 2013 documentary The Ghosts in Our Machine, which followed me as I documented the plight of abused and exploited animals, and advocated for their rights as sentient beings.

I hail from Toronto, Canada, and live with my beautiful partner Joseph.

Speaking Engagements

To request a keynote, school, or festival speaking engagement, please email me. jo@weanimals.org