Born on 14 October 1921 in Rzeszów.
A member of ZPAF until 7 May 1953.
Being a documentary photographer, she also practiced a number of sports, such as gliding, sailing, skiing and iceboating. She grew up in a family of photographers. Her grandmother, Leopoldyna Januszowa, was one of the earliest women photographers in Poland, and her grandfather, Edward Janusz, ran a photographic studio in Rzeszów from 1886. After the war, in 1945 Irena received a photography school diploma. She studied architecture at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków. In the 1960s, she was commissioned to prepare the photographic documentation of the conservation of monuments, including the castles of Baranów, Łańcut, Nidzica, and Czorsztyn. In the years 1952-1970, she cooperated with the Arkady Publishing House. In 1959, she produced upon the commission from the municipal Miastaprojekt company a large body of documentary photographs in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the construction of the Nowa Huta Steelworks. She also documented political and sporting events. In the years 1961-81, she was the president and vice-president of the Kraków Branch of the Union of Polish Art Photographers (ZPAF). She won a number of awards and distinctions for her art and care of monuments. Her works were featured at the exhibition She-Documentalists. Polish Women Photographers in 2008. In 2016, the Rzeszów Foundation (Fundacja Rzeszowska) made a film about her family entitled “The Janusz Family of Rzeszów”.