Woman Portrait Gallery #4 — May 2026
Pia Henkel
“Lacrosse”
G: Who is the woman in your photo?
P: She is a lacrosse player from Berlin. In her team, she is the goalkeeper. I met her through a post on Instagram when I was looking for young female athletes. I was searching for women who do a sport that is not very common and who I could photograph. It was not a paid job, just something I wanted to do for myself.
G: So you were looking for a subject on purpose to create a photo series?
P: Exactly. That is how I often work. I start with an idea and then I look for ways to make it happen. In this case, I made a post on social media because I wanted to give women's sports more visibility. I do a lot of sports photography, and I have seen many times that there is still a big difference between men and women when it comes to payment. There are also far fewer female sports photographers. In professional sports, this problem is well known. Female athletes simply earn much less than their male colleagues. That is what I want to change with this series. People say, "Design is power," and in this case I want to create a stage for these athletes. I want to present them in a positive way and maybe help improve the situation a little. So it's not only design that is power, but today it is visibility.
G: When you were the same age as the woman in the photo, what were you doing?
P: I grew up in a small village and as a teenager, I spent a lot of time on the internet. Around 2010, websites like Flickr and Tumblr became popular. That was where I discovered that there was so much more than the world I knew. Back then, the internet was my window to the world. It inspired me and showed me that I could become a photographer myself. Later I left my village, studied photography in Dortmund and moved to Berlin.
G: How would you describe your work as a photographer?
P: On the one hand, I work as a freelance sports photographer. But I also see myself as someone who documents things. That interests me much more than creating staged pictures. Partly because the work is really interesting and I get to meet all kinds of different people. But also because I see myself as an activist, someone who can help change society for the better with my camera. If I can inspire young women with my photos, make them proud, and show them what is possible, then I am already very close to my goal. Of course, I am happy if I can inspire boys as well, or people in general. But young women are especially important to me because I experienced firsthand that women often stay below their potential because they lack self-confidence. This confidence and commitment are not only important in my art but also in my work as a freelance photographer. I am a member of the Female Photo Club, and I work to help female photographers get into a stronger position when negotiating their pay. I also want them to connect with each other and support one another.
G: What do you think about images created with AI? Does it worry you?
P: Not really. Because I work as a documentary photographer and every one of my pictures has its own real story, I am not too worried. At least not about my own work. What I have noticed, though, is that people are becoming much more interested in how I work. On social media, content that shows the creative process has become much more popular recently. These behind-the-scenes stories are probably so popular because finished images now have to compete with pictures that can be created at the push of a button. The process that AI offers to skip for you is probably not worth skipping after all.
P: She is a lacrosse player from Berlin. In her team, she is the goalkeeper. I met her through a post on Instagram when I was looking for young female athletes. I was searching for women who do a sport that is not very common and who I could photograph. It was not a paid job, just something I wanted to do for myself.
G: So you were looking for a subject on purpose to create a photo series?
P: Exactly. That is how I often work. I start with an idea and then I look for ways to make it happen. In this case, I made a post on social media because I wanted to give women's sports more visibility. I do a lot of sports photography, and I have seen many times that there is still a big difference between men and women when it comes to payment. There are also far fewer female sports photographers. In professional sports, this problem is well known. Female athletes simply earn much less than their male colleagues. That is what I want to change with this series. People say, "Design is power," and in this case I want to create a stage for these athletes. I want to present them in a positive way and maybe help improve the situation a little. So it's not only design that is power, but today it is visibility.
G: When you were the same age as the woman in the photo, what were you doing?
P: I grew up in a small village and as a teenager, I spent a lot of time on the internet. Around 2010, websites like Flickr and Tumblr became popular. That was where I discovered that there was so much more than the world I knew. Back then, the internet was my window to the world. It inspired me and showed me that I could become a photographer myself. Later I left my village, studied photography in Dortmund and moved to Berlin.
G: How would you describe your work as a photographer?
P: On the one hand, I work as a freelance sports photographer. But I also see myself as someone who documents things. That interests me much more than creating staged pictures. Partly because the work is really interesting and I get to meet all kinds of different people. But also because I see myself as an activist, someone who can help change society for the better with my camera. If I can inspire young women with my photos, make them proud, and show them what is possible, then I am already very close to my goal. Of course, I am happy if I can inspire boys as well, or people in general. But young women are especially important to me because I experienced firsthand that women often stay below their potential because they lack self-confidence. This confidence and commitment are not only important in my art but also in my work as a freelance photographer. I am a member of the Female Photo Club, and I work to help female photographers get into a stronger position when negotiating their pay. I also want them to connect with each other and support one another.
G: What do you think about images created with AI? Does it worry you?
P: Not really. Because I work as a documentary photographer and every one of my pictures has its own real story, I am not too worried. At least not about my own work. What I have noticed, though, is that people are becoming much more interested in how I work. On social media, content that shows the creative process has become much more popular recently. These behind-the-scenes stories are probably so popular because finished images now have to compete with pictures that can be created at the push of a button. The process that AI offers to skip for you is probably not worth skipping after all.