Jen Osborne is a photographer based in Berlin, Germany. For the last week of August 2014, Osborne traveled to her native Vancouver Island, British Columbia,Canada and photographed Janet Schwartz (known to some as a deer whisperer) and her domesticated deer “Bimbo,” living in the remote mountains near Ucluelet. The visit was the result of a year and a half of trying to gain access, involving multiple trips driving for hours through the mountains to convince Schwartz to be photographed. “I would like people to see how two characters, both in a sort of state of disrepair, can be therapeutic to each other,” writes Osborne. “Janet is somewhat downtrodden, due to life experiences, and BIMBO nearly died as a fawn – but they found each other and Janet explained her love for this animal – it seems to keep her alive somehow.”

Janet Schwartz and Bimbo the deer – photographs by Jen Osborne