Janet Russek worked with renowned photographer Eliot Porter as his assistant from 1980 until the time of his death in 1990, curating his exhibitions and working on many of his publications. Russek was a founding member of the New Mexico Council on Photography, and she has served on the boards of the Marion Center for Photographic Arts and the Association of International Photography Art Dealers. Her still lifes using metaphorical imagery to relate to the birth and death cycle culminated in the publication of The Tenuous Stem, Radius Books, 2013. She has exhibited in numerous key galleries and museums.