INTERNATIONAL WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS Mar 2019

Alexandra Lechner has been working as a freelance photographer with an emphasis on portrait and people since 1998. Her clients include advertising, PR and corporate publishing agencies, as well as direct clients. A major part of her work covers portraits and reportage for corporate communication – on site or in the studio.

Clients especially value her empathy when dealing with people in front of the camera. Flexibility, creative improvisation and adaptation to altered situations are self-evident for Alexandra during her professional work. She has an ability to create a casual atmosphere for extraordinary but at the same time honest images. Both staged portraits and sensitively photographed stories can be found in her portfolio.

Depending on the scope of the assignment, she works as an individual or as part of a team. She co-ordinates the shoot with the client in advance and books additional staff as appropriate.

Alexandra regards herself as a creative designer who realises photography assignments on time and to budget, in close collaboration with the client.

Ali Mitton is an Australian fashion and advertising photographer represented by iheartreps in the USA.

She is based in Los Angeles and specialises in international production and campaigns in Europe, Central America and beyond.

Andrea Gaspar-Klein's career has grown deeply into the world of sports. Her heart beats for the mountains. She feels privileged to be able to combine her profession with her passion for dynamic movement and to work as a freelance photographer for sports magazines, advertising and commercial shoots across lifestyle, outdoor and sportswear.

Andrea is represented by Avenger Photographers.

Anna Neubauer is a photographer and videographer who discovered her love for visual storytelling in 2012 by creating self-portraits to find her inner self and bring the surreal world of her imagination to life.

Anna was born in Rohrbach, Austria. After living in Princeton, New Jersey in the United States, she is currently based in London, UK. Her work has been featured in international publications and media, and she is known for creating dreamy images with lots of love for details using her childhood dreams as source of inspiration.

Recent publications include work for Harper's Bazaar Brazil, Hooligans Magazine, Pulse Spikes Magazine, Bloom Twins for Spotify, Bambini Magazine, Halycon Kids Magazine, Vanity Teen, Kaltblut Magazine, and more.

Astrid M. Obert is an established and respected photographer in the fashion and lifestyle industry. Her talent for photography, especially her eye for light, has aroused the interest of many and made her one of the best to work with.

Specialising in advertising, fashion, lingerie, and lifestyle photography, Astrid radiates a modern Danish design aesthetic in line with new trends. Productions with Astrid are professional and fun, with "a touch of crazily inspired pizzazz!"

She is relaxed, charming and a technical mastermind who gets the job done. Supported by a long career, she produces inspirational photography full of creativity, passion, and funk.

Astrid offers the full range of production services with outstanding quality to local and international agencies, brands and magazines alike.

"Being born in Sorel, growing up in Granby, having an Indian first name and an Italian last name, this doesn’t automatically create a complicated girl! A young woman with a wondering smile, she’s dragged her backpack and worn-out Converse from Paris to Bali, making a stop at Machu Picchu, and she’s not ready to slow down; travelling is literally tattooed on her skin.

Her idea of a perfect afternoon? Sipping a latte and listening to AC/DC while adding pins on Pinterest, where she has over 170,000 followers.

Savitri is still a five-year-old little girl in the body of an accomplished photographer. Her brain is always on spin cycle and whites and colours are never separated, especially when she’s due for a load of new ideas. Her flaws? Stubborn, anti conformist and a dreamer... but after all, isn’t perfection slightly boring?"

Jena Carlin is a freelance commercial and editorial photographer, videographer, and cookbook author with nearly ten years of experience. While food photography is her specialty, she is also passionate about lifestyle, product, and fashion photography.

She regularly executes photo shoots from conceptualization and art direction to set styling and final imagery. This dedication to the whole process has led to many exciting clients including Reader’s Digest, Maurice’s, and Martha Stewart, where her work has been published nationally. 

Carlin Creative operates out of her photography studio, a 3,500 sq. ft. historic building in charming Auburndale, WI, perfectly situated between the Midwestern hubs of Chicago and Minneapolis. The studio is fully equipped for hosting clients and completing work remotely. 

Carlin Creative works primarily by capturing the client’s envisioned hero image first, and then quickly expounds on it through exploration of light and perspective. The result is a full library of images in beautiful vignettes, perfect for telling the story of a brand in many avenues, especially the ever-important world of social media.

From the age of 13, Cherry Li devoted herself to the art of photography, brewing magic in the darkroom as soon as she could escape school each day. After completing her BFA in photography from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, she started travelling the world in search of visual stories.

She found her second love, food, while living in Paris. From then on, it has been a whirlwind of adventures in learning and telling authentic stories of people through the food they eat.
Cherry has won multiple awards and shot for numerous commercial and editorial clients, such as Anchor New Zealand, Tourism Authority of Thailand, Travel+Leisure, Condé Nast Traveller, GQ, Malaysia Airlines, Dragonair, Wall Street Journal, Theme, Wallpaper, The Cleaver Quarterly, Qatar Airways, British Airways and Australian Gourmet Traveller.

Cherry is as fun to work with in the studio as she is in the wild - anywhere in the world. She is currently working on some personal documentary projects looking at food cultures from across the world, including one on rural Creole Mardi Gras food, and another on foraged Chinese food.

Clara Tuma's art is light-hearted yet sophisticated. For many years, Clara specialised in photographing a wide range of food projects for advertising, editorials and book publishers. She then found that clients who appreciated her sense of beauty and eye for detail also started asking her to shoot travel, lifestyle, portraits and interiors.

Today, Clara’s projects are varied and her work has recently appeared in The New York Times, Monocle Magazine, Virtuoso Life, National Geographic Traveller FOOD, Vogue Russia, Harper's Bazaar UK, and The Wall Street Journal.

Based in Portland, OR and Los Angeles, editorial and commercial photographer, Dina Avila has shot for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Virgin Australia and Vogue Japan. Her commercial client list includes American Express, Nike, Hestan Commercial and others. 

Dina brings a focused yet warm energy to her sets, helping her subjects feel at ease. She is an enthusiastic collaborator and loves melding her ideas with those of her clients.

While Dina’s focus is food, lifestyle and interiors, she loves to travel while exploring local culture with her camera. Dina has a degree in Photo-communications from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas and has won the James Beard Award for Visual Storytelling.

Dorit Thies's global, unapologetic style stands out today. Her commercial photography brings acclaim throughout Europe and Asia, and she has an artist’s soul.

Dorit's fine art has been shown in galleries across the United States, though she is most known for her high-fashion, celebrity and beauty shoots (both print and digital).

Dorit has the ability to manage and inspire creative teams. "I build relationships and strive for excellence every day,” she says. Born in Hamburg, Germany, the Pilates devotee worked as a high-end hair and make-up artist in Europe before moving to Los Angeles.

Clients include Estée Lauder, Sephora, Revlon, GLAMGLOW, Urban Decay Cosmetics, Lorac Cosmetics, ELLE, Marie Claire and Glamour Magazine.

When not photographing incredible interiors for periodicals, magazines, books and advertising, Ellen McDermott can be found capturing lifestyle assignments.

"Given the opportunity to showcase work for the 'International Women Photographers' Spotlight has been a treat. What I have chosen to display is a collection of some of my favourite imagery."

Not often thought of as a place for women, one story captures the arduousness and glory of a 'Day in the Life of a Lobsterman', shot off the coast of New Hampshire. Another favourite is capturing pets as they navigate interiors; the play of light off of the organic and inorganic objects in a dreamlike manner.

The subject matter is very Americana from portraits to locations, to objects. They all share a drama of lighting. Using natural light as often as possible when shooting captures the realness of time and space.

Emily Assiran is an internationally published, award-winning photographer based out of Brooklyn, NY. She specialises in portraiture and interiors.

Hailing from Philadelphia, the land of cheesesteaks and Rocky, Emily graduated with a BFA in photography from Tyler School of Art. This passion brought her to New York City in pursuit of her career. She has since photographed many recognisable talents and great personalities.

Emily’s friendly demeanor and ability to work under pressure has served as an asset to many clients, enabling her to work with many different kinds of subjects. Whether celebrities, cowboys, or CEOs of major corporations, Emily's love of meeting new people and telling their stories comes through in every shot.

Recently, Emily and her team worked on a photo shoot with The Real Deal, that was extremely emotional and important to her. She took portraits of women who were victims of assault by their employer, Richard Meier. Emily took the project extremely seriously and through talking with her brave subjects, was able to capture them in a way that they felt secure and emboldened by. The conversations and relationships built between her and her subjects were very impactful to Emily and she continues to talk to all three women.

Emily’s other clients include Variety, Essence Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Bustle, Elite Daily, Backstage Magazine, Vanity Fair Italia, Brigitte Woman, Man Repeller, Grand Central Publishing, NKF, and Capital Health Group.

Check out her Instagram and website to see more new work.

Florence-based editorial and commercial photographer Francesca Anichini is passionate about ethnography and anthropology. A serial traveller, since childhood Francesca has sought to understand and capture in images the spirit of the people she meets.

Urban life, rural work, primordial customs, cultures, foods, rituals, beliefs, religions, landscapes, mountains and oceans… discovering and narrating pieces of the world is her great passion.

Francesca's speciality is to compose stories of places to go and propose them in combination with places to stay.

Follow her on Instagram or visit her website.

With over 19 years of experience as a freelancer in the camera department of the film and advertising industries, Gemma Silvestre’s cinematographic influences are clear in her work.

After learning from the best directors of photography, she decided to add technique to her own natural instinct by attending a range of different schools. A Master's in Applied Photography at IDEP Image and Design School in Barcelona and a workshop in Creative Lighting at the International Center of Photography in New York, are just some of the highlights from her training.

Gemma is passionate about capturing light, details and feelings - pure emotion. In recent years, she has been drawn to the underwater world, with images full of creativity and imagination.

"Anything a client can imagine underwater, clothing, jewellery or drinks, these images will spark creativity, poetry and magic. Welcome to a world of inventive dreamscapes, where femininity, subtlety and beauty take centre stage!"

Gemma is represented by ARepresents.

Gintare Marcel in an award-winning photographer, specialising in food, advertising, still life and lifestyle.

Combining knowledge of the industry and marketing, she is able to fulfill the most challenging briefs. Her impeccable attention to detail in creating images that draw the viewer in has attracted a list of global commercial and editorial clients, including Nestlé, Accor Hotels, and Betty Bossi.

Based in Switzerland, Gintare works globally with a vast network of creatives.

Cape Town-based Hannah Mentz is an award-winning lifestyle, kids and portrait photographer. She is known for bringing out the best in her subjects, be they adults, children or dogs. Cape Town provides a spectacular backdrop for her to create beautiful lifestyle images.

Recent European lifestyle campaigns include Danone, Ross & Brown designer sunglasses and travel company Sunweb. Previously based in London, clients included BBC, Slimfast, Servite Housing and The Barbican. Her work has also been published in The Sunday Times (UK) for Lloyds TSB and in Time magazine. She also produces work for local and international NGO’s, including Comic Relief.

Holly Pickering is a London-based commercial food, drink and lifestyle photographer. She works with an experienced team of food and prop stylists and assistants, and is equally happy shooting in the studio or on location.

Holly has just finished shooting a food and lifestyle campaign for Jarlsberg cheese, for both the Swedish and UK markets, which will be released later this Spring.

Other commercial clients include Lurpak, Centrepoint, P&O Cruises and Brasserie Blanc. Visit her folio website for more examples of recent commissions and personal work.

Holly is represented worldwide by her agents Hancock & Handsome.

Julia Bostock has been specialising in children, teens and baby photography for over 15 years. She is now diversifying and working on fine art photography having won some recent awards.

Julia shoots portraits of men, women and children and is happy to travel. Her work is commissioned for advertising, commercial and editorial shoots whether lifestyle or fashion. Her clients are worldwide, including Fendi, Mothercare, Velveteen, Afiniti and large global names such as Nestlé, British Airways and Simba.

From luxury brands to charity work, Julia is always inspired and loves story telling. Her photography awards include One Eyeland, and she works from her studio as well as out on location. She creates amazing lighting effects, be it natural or contrived - everything is possible!

Currently she is working on a project with weavers in Scotland and hopes to print her book soon.

Visit the website for more information about Julia and follow her on Instagram.

Kristina Fender has a degree in Fine Arts, Photography and Video as well as a Master's in Digital Arts. She started her career as an advertising and fashion photographer. After many years developing her advertising skills, she fell in love with the world of motorcycles and began capturing with her lens all the emotion that it evokes.

Strength, speed, noise and dust are the main and basic elements around her photographic imagery, but also the search for natural light and moody colours away from the artificial; just the motorcycle, the sun and her camera.

Travelling around the world, Kristina has been working for high-end magazines in the automotive field, and lately for top brands such as Yamaha and BMW.

Even before moving to the Netherlands from her hometown Calgary, Canada in 2008, photography was major part of Kyla Elaine's life.

Once settled in Amsterdam, Kyla turned her passion for still life photography into her profession. A rebel behind the camera, she keeps the product in focus. Experimenting with shapes, textures, objects and colours, it’s her unexpected approach that makes you look... and look again.

From polished to playful, Kyla challenges the boundaries of still life photography - unique angles, intended shadows, gravity-defying placements and creative animations serve to create memorable images that evoke emotions.

Her creative mind, collaboration efforts and chill attitude in the studio is why clients like adidas, Karl Lagerfeld, Ace & Tate and Tommy Hilfiger want to shoot with her again and again.

Laura Barisonzi is a photographer and director in New York who shoots sports, fitness, lifestyle and portraits.

Whether shooting an ad campaign or a personal project, Laura combines an energetic and physical approach with creativity in lighting to bring original results.

Clients have included Adidas, Gap, Red Bull, Dove, Samsung, Danner Boots, NFL, Runner's World, Google Drive, Bud Light, Women's Health, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra, Reebok, Fitness, Adweek and New Balance.

"2018 was a year packed full of adventures for me! One of my favourite highlights was the Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport production. I love the whole motorsports scene, (and of course, the Porsche brand itself) so it was great that I got to spend time with the brand new race car.

Sometimes it’s nice to look back in time and see how automotive design developed over the years, and shooting an original 1985 BMW M3 alongside the all new BMW M2 Competition was exactly that, a perfect pairing of cars showcasing BMW’s M Division.

My passion for speed and racing indirectly brought me into the world of off road trucks; after doing two GMC Sierra productions, my latest off road Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro project was great because we got to send the truck through dirt, capture a ton of great shapes and textures, and have a blast while doing it. I’m looking forward to another Toyota production in March."

Lisa Tichané’s work has been entirely focused on baby and kids photography for more than 10 years. She has a true passion for children and loves documenting the energy and playfulness of childhood. Happiness and motion are the hallmarks of her imagery: she can get beaming smiles and belly laughs out of any child! Her work often includes a touch of quirk and mischief, adding just the right dose of humour to her images.

Based in France, she is fluent in English and French and has a good understanding of Spanish. She can work anywhere and thrives in multicultural environments. She is a published author and award-winning photographer. Her images can be found in commercial and advertising campaigns for international brands such as Pampers, Cow & Gate, Nokia, Seventh Generation, Sauter and Baxter.

Lucila Blumencweig was born and raised in Buenos Aires. Debuting in the film industry gave her a wide range of experience across different fields, most of all in the use of light as an emotional resource.

She is known for her great talent and art direction and has won several awards.

Lucila recently shot a major worldwide campaign for Centrum Vitamins with Leo Burnett Italy, and has been working on the pre-production of a global campaign for Coca-Cola.

Clients include Sony, Coca-Cola, Adidas, Centrum, Citi Bank, Powerade, Nike, Sprite, Honest Tea, Personal Mobile, Fox, Vitamin Water, Fernet, Santander, Atma, Movistar, Rolling Stone, D&D, La Petite Mag, Siesta and Primera Huella. Agencies include Publicis It, DDB Berlin, Leo Burnett Milano, Lapiz Chicago, Grey Argentina, David The Agency, BBDO Argentina, TBWA Buenos Aires, McCann Peru, Visual Latina, Ogilvy and Ogilvy Colombia.

Lucila works internationally, and is available worldwide. She is always willing to begin new projects, whether lifestyle, kids or fashion.

Mandy Toh is a food and interior photographer based in Dubai, UAE. Born and brought up in Singapore, her interest in photography started when she picked up a camera and discovered her interest and natural talent in photography. She spent years perfecting her craft in both natural and artificial lighting.

Driven by her passion for food styling and photography, she is able to create story-telling images that capture the essence of the dishes in front of her lens. Whether shooting for commercial or editorial projects, she is able to bring subjects to life.

Mandy works with local and overseas agencies, interior designers and architects. Her client list includes Memac Ogilvy, PF Changs, ATOM Dubai, Grand Millennium, La Ville Hotel & Suites and more. Her recent work includes shoots for L’Occitane Café and The Palace Downtown, photographing food for the various restaurants in the hotel.

Visit her website to see more of her work.

Miriam Lindthaler's work is focused on kids and lifestyle photography. She uses her great skills as a kid-coaching-shooter (Montessori and Waldorf background) while working with these little superheroes.

While shooting, her main intention is a real and individual moment developed by an organic and lively performance: love and laughter, heartbreakingly wild and beautiful. Miriam delivers authentic photography with raw emotion, embodying the lifestyle feel.

Miriam studied photography at the Berlin Lette Verein and worked as a freelance assistant and producer for several German photographers. She now works worldwide and is currently based in Hamburg.

She is represented by Tobias Bosch and works for clients such as Tonies, Amway, Babybel, Bahlsen, Coca-Cola, Colgate, Ergobag, Henkel, Ladival, Milka, Manduca, Manor, Nestlé, S.Oliver, and many more.

After studies at the academy of photo design in Munich, Sabine Duerichen began her career as a freelance photographer. She is renowned for her specialty in kids and lifestyle photography, and has received multiple awards for her successful work for national as well as international clients in the fashion and advertising industries.

In 2010, Sabine opened SKYLOFTSTUDIO, a large, luminous daylight studio in Munich where she focuses on babies, kids, teens and lifestyle images.

"The camera should always be at the level of the child, and your finger should always be on the trigger; carefully and with patience waiting for that special moment. Children are lively and spontaneous, to lead and take them forward makes this job exciting and unique."

Clients include Loroso, Hauck Toys, Käthe Kruse, Hipp, Aptamil, Blue Seven, Milupa, ALDI Süd, Ferrero, Ergobaby, Lisette-Pourfilles, Conleys, Wöhrl Sinn Leffers, Töpfer, BBDO, C&A, Adidas, Deichmann and LEGO.

Magazines and editorials include Childhood Business, Burda Style, Les Petits, Wort, Bild, Gruner&Jahr, Eltern Magazine and Pustefix.

As a former basketball player who was always passionate about sports, Sabrina Conforti began to photograph athletes and entered the world of rugby in 2008. Known internationally, Sabrina has worked for Adidas on Danilo Gallinari’s campaign, for an Italian tour by Jonah Lomu (former All Black), and with Javier Zanetti across a range of shoots.

Sabrina has created a unique style which has helped her to make her way in a predominantly male profession. She is the author of numerous series published in Sportweek and has been following the Italian National Rugby Team for 10 years. Sabrina has also been the official photographer of the Crédit Agricole Italia Group for four years.

Her significant portfolio includes cooperation with the Mondadori Group and Discovery Italia.

Sabrina's greatest strength is empathy, which encourages her subjects to open up and bare themselves in front of the lens. She offers an innovative and personal style - in her shots, there is all the elegance and lightness that distinguish her.

Sabrina's skills and knowledge allow her to manage all phases of a photo shoot, from creative direction to post-production.

Sally Peterson is an award-winning American portrait photographer based in Los Angeles. She is a master at harnessing that delicate balance of power and grace in her photographs.

Sally's work is compelling yet delicate, revealing the emotion, beauty, and dignity in her subjects. She has worked with subjects ranging from Oscar-winning actors, cutting-edge fashion brands, medical professionals at the top of their field, culture-shifting whistleblowers and activists, up and coming brands and entrepreneurs, all with whom she has played an integral role in extracting and showcasing their humanity and inner life through photography.

Sally is a graduate of the Art Center College of Design. Her work has been featured in numerous publications such as Time, Inc. Magazine, Newsweek, The Hollywood Reporter, New York Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Surface Magazine and more.

In addition to her commercial and editorial work, her photographs have been shown in galleries throughout California.

Sara Acosta is a Spanish underwater photographer who currently works between the Canary Islands, Spain, the United States and the rest of Europe.

Specialising in beauty, fashion and advertising photography, Sara has developed work for a number of national and international magazines and advertising clients.

With a solid foundation in underwater photography and an advanced technique, Sara can focus on creativity and research any image in the aquatic environment.

"As a photographer, I am deliberate and weird.”

Sara Lehtomaa is an open-minded and determined photographer who is in her element when photographing people. Her expressive fashion portraits captivate the mind and challenge the viewer.

Sara's strong vision and thorough planning before each photoshoot gives her work a refined and distinctive touch. Her work is further characterised by reduced elements and a very deliberate colour palette.

She is based in Finland and available worldwide. Sara is prepresented by Fotonokka.

Sara Morris’ images can be seen regularly in UK and international advertising campaigns. Her work focuses mainly on still life, food, drink and product shots. Her skilful use of lighting, her love of colour and texture and playful compositions all come together to create work that not only stands out, is contemporary but also has a classical twist.

She has had work selected in the past for several awards and exhibitions and has also had her work featured in various publications including Creative Review, Elle Magazine, The Independent, Tatler, The Gourmand Magazine, Marie Claire and The Guardian. Her commercial work has been used internationally and she regularly shoots for some of London's top advertising and design agencies.

Sara has a wonderful team of stylists, model makers, set builders and shoots from her studio in Haggerston, London.

"Once upon a time… I was a theatre critic, journalist and news editor.  Life took me across the oceans and I settled in Sydney, Australia. Fast-track 25 years, now I am a creative, a photographer, and a director. I tell vivid stories and visually flirt with my audience.

I have a knack for still life, food and lifestyle photography and my work is recognised for being sharp, well framed, with deep shadows and a mysterious tone throughout.

With images that often evoke emotions, moods and memories, my latest projects - 'Seafood on the Roof', 'Shanghai Purl', and 'The Labyrinth of Olives' strike a chord with the wider audience and that’s what my clients find appealing when they choose to work with me.

I am currently creative directing, writing and photographing advertising projects for clients like Pasticceria Dolce Mia in Australia, Arianna Trading Company in California, and Bashert Jewelry in Florida.

Stephanie Trenz is a passionate people photographer from Stuttgart, with a focus on corporate photography. With her finger on the trigger and 25 years‘ experience in her portfolio, she is ready at any time to tease out that certain something from CEOs, managers, workers, and VIPs, as well as regular people from the street.

Stephanie‘s work has many deep aspects and her images are personal, open and always set in a strong context. Her shoots convince via a professional process and transparent pricing.

Her latest project saw her create portraits of the 12 members of the FDP Baden-Württemberg, ensuring the personality of each individual was clearly transported with the pictures.

Clients include Daimler AG, Porsche AG, Groninger, Wüstenrot& Württembergische AG, Klafs, Schwäbisch-Hall AG, Voith, ElringKlinger AG, Gasversorgung Süddeutschland, N-ergie, Willems Eyewear, Apotheke 55 and many more.