Today, she lives in Berlin with her husband and two children and works for renowned magazines and newspapers such as Der Spiegel, Monopol, and Die Zeit. During their early years, her children accompanied her to photo shoots, where they met top politicians, artists, scientists, and other prominent figures.

I was happy for her. She was in a situation where time was literally running out. Coupled with the unpredictability of a baby, she must have been relieved when the speech time ended.

At the same time, I later saw the comments on social media and realized once again that, as a mother, you can’t please everyone in the end. For me personally, Hanna Steinmüller has done valuable pioneering work, and anyone who wants to can take her as a role model. Those who feel pressured by this can still be happy for her. For me, that’s solidarity among women in action.

Looking at it positively, babies could be described as empowerment tools. They bring a break in professional situations. No one really knows how to deal with them. They are a funny, cute, annoying, and bizarre elephant in the room. This can cause stress, but it can also force everyone to relax and radically dissolve tensions. My children have put my whole life into perspective, including the stress of portrait appointments with supposedly difficult people. I always had the most absurd people with me. A baby disarms every diva, every eccentric, and I have never found it easier to squeeze an extra minute out of people who are short on time.

To support parents, editorial teams must take the lead. They should make it clear to the protagonists that a baby or child will be coming along. Children on set make everyone feel uneasy. Someone involved must start wanting the child on set, not just tolerating them. This is the only way to create the security and calm that not only the parents but also the baby needs in order to function at the right moment, as the saying goes.

Of course, childcare is essential. This can be provided by paid assistants, partners, or even editors. The SPIEGEL editors in particular often happily took the child off my hands and looked after him lovingly while I was taking photos. I have had nothing but good experiences, because the team was able to solve any problems that arose.

Even without children, editorial assignments are stressful and force me to think in terms of maximizing time efficiency. Sometimes it feels like having to hold my breath while taking photos. Most of the time, this was due to the subjects, who often had very little time. However, since I’ve had children and take them with me to appointments as babies, I feel the same way. So I have nothing against short assignments, because the entire team on both sides makes the appointment as fixed as possible.

Suddenly there is another protagonist—and an unpredictable one at that. This means that everyone has to pull together. However, most people are happy to do this for the sake of a baby, and so a fundamentally benevolent relationship develops from the outset.

Whether in school, at my desk with colored pencils, or leafing through my father’s art magazines, I realized early on that nothing relaxes me as much as looking at pictures for a long time. I am impatient and always do several things at once. When I take pictures, I focus and can relax. Maybe that helps my portraits.

During my studies, I encountered classical portrait photographers for the first time. My professor Vincent Kohlbecher at HAW showed me that people need to find themselves so that the viewer of the image can come into direct contact with the person depicted. To achieve this, the photographer must become invisible and withdraw.

Sometimes I feel that my portraits bore me because so little happens in them. Then I like them again because they remind me of those moments of contemplation. Maybe I just can’t help myself, but I would be tempted to try something different, to bring more movement and individuality on the part of the person depicted into my pictures. However, not dynamism for its own sake, but only with the right protagonists.

There are portrait assignments that were a great experience and others that produced good results. One good experience was the photo shoot for Greenpeace Magazine, where I photographed the then Minister of Culture Claudia Roth and climate activist Pauline Brünger.

As always, we arrived an hour early, and after arriving at the Jakob Kaiser Building, I first took care of our child until she fell asleep. My husband had come along to take care of our daughter in case she woke up. The editors ran over time on the interview they were conducting with Claudia Roth, climate activist Pauline Brünger, and environmental activist Jennifer Morgan. My husband texted me that the baby was awake and crying before I could even start taking pictures. Portraits are often taken at the end of the interview. Even after Ms. Roth’s assistant insisted, the editors didn’t end their conversation, so I only had a quick minute to take the picture.

From the interview room, I could already hear my crying child outside the door. She must have been waiting for a long time. The interview ended, the editors left the room, and Ms. Roth beamed at my crying child, who was carried in on my husband’s arm. “Oh, little angel!” she exclaimed. My daughter stopped crying, and I took a photo of Ms. Roth while holding my daughter in my arms. My husband was quick-witted enough to capture the moment. The photo was later printed in an article in Greenpeace Magazine.

In my opinion, the portrait for Wirtschaftswoche magazine featuring the then Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck turned out particularly well. It is a simple portrait taken in daylight. I spontaneously included the location in my short photo parkour because I was struck by the special light. Habeck was already getting impatient—politicians always have little time—but I decided to take a deep breath and wait it out. Sometimes there is a moment when the person being photographed pauses briefly, calms down, and then a good result emerges. But this only happens in cooperation, never in isolation.

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