Photographer Rob MacInnis gathers barnyard animals that we selected for consumption and production, and turns them into majestic portrait subjects.

Everything started when Rob came back from a long journey through South America. Taking photos in places that suffered from extreme poverty made him rethink photography’s role in his life and society: “I had a tough time dealing with my relationship to photography after this trip,” Rob told Bored Panda. “I felt it irresponsible to ignore the exploitative aspects of photography, especially when making artwork in such a privileged position. I found that photographing animals enabled me to critique both myself and the photographic field.”

MacInnis said that working with animals wasn’t very different from working with people. “You’re invading their space so need to set some boundaries and develop trust,” he said. “At times this is easy and other times impossible.”

“I met a great deal of patient, helpful and trusting farmers and we did what we could with what we had. What I did have was a decent amount of time which was quite necessary. Sometimes just to get the right head shot I would have to wait for an hour just for animals to calm and begin to trust me.”

More info: robmacinnis.com | Instagram