# List of German women photographers

This is a list of women photographers who were born in Germany or whose works are closely associated with that country.

## A

* Louise Abel (1841–1907), German-born Norwegian photographer
* Gertrud Arndt (1903–2000), created self-portraits from around 1930
* Ursula Arnold (1929–2012), street scenes in Berlin and Leipzig during the German Democratic Republic
* Ellen Auerbach (1906–2004), see United States

## B

* Tina Bara (born 1962), freelance artistic photographer
* Uta Barth (born 1958), art photography
* Carla Bartheel (1902–1983), film actress and photographer
* Hilla Becher (1934–2015), together with her brother Bernd, produced typologies of industrial buildings and structures
* Bertha Beckmann (1815–1901), possibly Germany's first professional woman photographer
* Katharina Behrend (1888–1973), see Netherlands
* Sibylle Bergemann (1941–2010), chronicler of social life in East Germany
* Ella Bergmann-Michel (1896–1971), abstract painter, photographer, filmmaker
* Ruth Bernhard (1905–2006), German-born American lesbian photographer
* Emilie Bieber (1810–1884), pioneer who opened a studio in Hamburg as early as 1852
* Aenne Biermann (1898–1933), of the New Objectivity movement
* Ilse Bing (1899–1998), versatile photographer (fashion, architecture, etc.) from the 1920s to the 1950s, often using remarkable compositions
* Anna Blume (1937–2011), staged photographs and installations, often depicting herself and her husband Bernhard
* Dorothy Bohm (1924–2023), see United Kingdom
* Jenny Bossard-Biow (1813 – after 1858), possibly the first woman in Germany to have made daguerreotypes
* Marianne Breslauer (1909–2001), active in the early 1930s
* Käthe Buchler (1876–1930), documented WWI in Braunschweig, Germany
* Traude Bührmann (born 1942), writer, journalist, photographer

## C

* Gladys Chai von der Laage (born 1953), sports photographer
* Rosemarie Clausen (1907–1990), theatre and portrait photographer

## D

* Wanda von Debschitz-Kunowski (1870–1935), portrait photographer, educator
* Minya Diez-Dührkoop (1873–1929), professional photographer with a studio in Berlin

## E

* Frauke Eigen (born 1969), photographer of the aftermath of war in Kosovo

## F

* Claudia Fährenkemper (born 1959), landscape photographer
* Gertrude Fehr (1895–1996), did solarisation photos
* Gisèle Freund (1908–2000), see France

## G

* Yishay Garbasz (born 1970), interdisciplinary artist in large format, photographer.
* Marie Goslich (1859–1936), photographer of social issues, etc., for magazines
* Sophia Goudstikker (1865–1924), portraitist and women's rights activist
* Liselotte Grschebina (1908–1994), see Israel
* Julia Gunther (born 1979), documentary photographer

## H

* Lisel Haas (1898–1989), German-born Jewish photographer who moved to Britain
* Esther Haase (born 1966), photographer, film director
* Elisabeth Hase (1905–1991), commercial and documentary photographer
* Alma Haser (born 1989), portrait photographer
* Sandra Hastenteufel (born 1966), contemporary artist, photographer
* Roswitha Hecke (born 1944), photojournalist
* Annemarie Heinrich (1912–2005), see Argentina
* Nanna Heitmann (born 1994)
* Lotte Herrlich (1883–1956), photographer of naturism during the 1920s
* Juliane Herrmann (born 1989), photographer curating photography exhibitions
* Hannah Höch (1889–1978), pioneer of photomontage, participated in the Dada movement
* Marta Hoepffner (1912–2000), artist, photographer
* Candida Höfer (born 1944), highly precise large-format depictions of guest workers in Germany, interiors, zoos, capturing the psychology of social architecture
* Sabine Hornig (born 1964), photographer and contemporary artist depicting architecture and urban life
* Walde Huth (1923–2011), fashion photographer

## J

* Lotte Jacobi (1896–1990), initially family photography, then shots of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, from 1935 studio in Manhattan, portraits of celebrities
* Charlotte Joël (c. 1882–1943), Jewish portrait photographer

## K

* Ingeborg Kahlenberg (1920–1996), photographer for the Dutch resistance
* Johanna Keimeyer (born 1982), photographer, artist
* Annette Kelm (born 1975), contemporary artist, photographer
* Astrid Kirchherr (1938–2020), photographed the Beatles before they became famous
* Emma Kirchner (1830–1909), trained in Leipzig, moved to Netherlands as first woman photographer in Delft area
* Barbara Klemm (active 1959–2004), press photographer
* Katrin Korfmann (born 1971), fine art photographer
* Monika Kropshofer (born 1952), painter, photographer
* Germaine Krull (1897–1985), photographer, activist
* Marie Kundt (1870–1932), photographer, educator

## L

* Lisa Larsen (1925–1959), pioneering woman photojournalist
* Erna Lendvai-Dircksen (1883–1962), photographer of rural individuals, collected in books that sold well in the Nazi period
* Esther Levine (born 1970), urban and street photography
* Alice Lex-Nerlinger (1893–1975), artist in the media of painting, photography, photomontage and photograms
* Annelise Löffler (1914–2000), active in the world of dance
* Barbara Luisi (fl 2000s), photographer and musician
* Loretta Lux (born 1969), fine art photographer known for surreal portraits of young children
* Rut Blees Luxemburg (born 1967), photographer of night scenes

## M

* Melanie Manchot (born 1966), specializes in photographs of people in public, sometimes inviting them to undress
* Jeanne Mandello (1907–2001), modern experimental photographer, studio in Paris, later moved to South America
* Anne Menke (born 1967), German-born editorial photographer, based in New York
* Hansel Mieth (1909–1998), see United States
* Lucia Moholy (1894–1989), see Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic
* Hedda Morrison (1908–1991), early photographs of Peking, Hong Kong and Sarawak, later lived and exhibited in Australia

## N

* Cathleen Naundorf (born 1968), artist and photographer
* Anja Niedringhaus (1965–2014), photojournalist, Pulitzer Prize winner
* Simone Nieweg (born 1962), landscape photographer
* Margret Nissen (born 1938), photographer of architecture
* Sonya Noskowiak (1900–1975), German-American photographer

## O

* Hildegard Ochse (1935–1997), freelance photographer, educator
* Li Osborne (1883–1968), German-born British photographer and sculptor

## P

* Helga Paris (1938–2024), photographer specializing in East-German street scenes
* Angelika Platen (born in 1942), portrait photographer
* Bettina Pousttchi (born 1971), German-Iranian sculptor, photographer, filmmaker
* Barbara Probst (born 1964), contemporary artist, photographer
* Anne-Katrin Purkiss (born 1959), portrait photographer

## R

* Katja Rahlwes (born 1967), fashion photographer
* Elfriede Reichelt (1883–1953), fine art photographer
* Claudia Reinhardt (born 1964), contemporary photographer
* Regina Relang (1906–1989), fashion photographer
* Evelyn Richter (1930–2021), art photographer active in social documentary photography
* Ursula Richter (1886–1946), dance and theatre photography in Dresden
* Leni Riefenstahl (1902–2003), film director and dancer who also published photos of the Nuba tribes in Sudan and, later, marine life
* Frieda Riess (1890–c. 1955), German portrait photographer in the 1920s with a studio in central Berlin
* Tata Ronkholz (1940–1997)
* Hildegard Rosenthal (1913–1990), German photographer who became a photojournalist and a noted photographer after her emigration to Brazil.

## S

* Eva Sandberg-Xiao (1911–2001), photographer in Russia and China
* Thyra Schmidt (born 1974), art photography and new media artist
* Stefanie Schneider (born 1968), photographer of the American west
* Ursula Schulz-Dornburg (born 1938), photographer in black and white
* Gundula Schulze Eldowy (born 1954), art photographer
* Hanni Schwarz (born c. 1901), nude and portrait photographer
* Else Seifert (1879–1968), architectural photographer
* Heji Shin (born 1976), art and fashion photographer
* Katharina Sieverding (born 1944), self-portraitist
* Annegret Soltau (born 1946), stitched photomontages of the human body
* Grete Stern (1904–1999), see Argentina
* Liselotte Strelow (1908–1981), employed by Kodak

## T

* Gerda Taro (1910–1937), early female war photographer, remembered for her coverage of the Spanish Civil War, especially Valencia, published in Life and Illustrated London News
* Elsa Thiemann (1910–1981), street photographer who trained at the Bauhaus
* Abisag Tüllmann (1935–1996), photojournalist

## U

* Ellen von Unwerth (born 1954), photographer of erotic femininity

## V

* Jutta Vialon (1917–2004), based in Bremen
* Christa Frieda Vogel (born 1960), documentary photographer

## W

* Bertha Wehnert-Beckmann (1815–1901), Germany's first professional female photographer with a studio in Leipzig from 1843
* Anna Werner (born 1941), associated with Der Harem
* Marianne Wex (1937–2020), feminist photographer and author
* Ruth Wilhelmi (1904–1977), stage photographer
* Madeline Winkler-Betzendahl (1899–1995), fashion and stage photographer
* Anne Winterer (1894–1938), studio in Düsseldorf, portraits, industrial subjects
* Ursula Wolff Schneider (1906–1977), photographer and photojournalist

## Y

* Yva (1900–c. 1942), German Jewish photographer, multiple exposed images

## Z

* Bertha Zillessen (1872–1936)
* Bettina von Zwehl (born 1971), portrait photographer, based in London