Lockhart’s Play Like a Girl Project 

By Anthony Collins

LPR Editor                                                 

Kennedy Roland   

Lockhart portrait photographer Jennifer Lindberg is turning her lens toward a powerful new subject: female athletes of all ages.

    Lindberg, known for documenting overlooked and underrepresented stories, has launched the Play Like a Girl Project, a statewide portrait initiative culminating in a 2026 coffee table book. The project seeks to confront what she describes as a “cultural crisis” in how girls and women, particularly in sports, are seen and represented.

    Before co-founding her portrait studio in 2018, Lindberg built a career in photojournalism, documenting developmentally disabled Death Row inmates for The New York Times and teen birth mothers for Marie Claire.

    “I’ve always been drawn to people whose stories weren’t being told loudly enough,” Lindberg said.

   That instinct carried into her portrait work. Over time, she noticed a pattern: women were often the ones organizing family memories, standing behind the camera instead of appearing in front of it.

   “That invisibility felt urgent to me,” she said.

   National research showing that girls begin losing confidence around age 8, and that roughly half quit sports by age 14, further fueled her resolve. A 2026 Super Bowl campaign by Dove, viewed by an estimated 100 million people, amplified the issue nationally.

    “That tells you this isn’t niche,” Lindberg said. “It’s a cultural crisis. Play Like a Girl is my answer to it, through portraiture.”

   The mission of the Play Like a Girl Project is to celebrate the strength, presence and identity of girls and women in sports, even in a culture that often encourages them to shrink.

   “We’re not making anything cute,” Lindberg said. “We’re not saying, ‘Smile for the camera.’ We’re making portraits that feel iconic. Visual legacies.”

   Each session is artistically styled and photographed in black and white to eliminate distraction and place full focus on the athlete. When seasons end and jerseys are packed away, Lindberg hopes the portraits will endure.

    “They remain as proof that she showed up, that she was powerful, that she took up space unapologetically,” she said.

    The project grew organically out of the studio Lindberg co-founded in 2018. Now supported by a team of eight photographers and two assistants, the initiative expanded this fall with an open call for the Play Like a Girl Book Project.

   Applications arrived from across the region, including Georgetown, San Antonio, Houston, Austin, New Braunfels and McAllen. More than 100 athletes are being selected for the 2026 publication, with sessions continuing through September to allow time for book design and a November release.

   The coffee table book serves as the project’s anchor, but Lindberg emphasizes that the conversation extends beyond print.

    One hundred percent of book profits will be donated to Kerr County Flood Relief and the Women in Sports Foundation, linking visibility with philanthropy.

     “As girls and women are photographed, they’re also part of giving back, literally by being seen,” Lindberg said.

    Participants range in age from 7 to over 50 and represent sports including cheer, volleyball, tennis, track, running and padel.

    Among those participating is Norah, a 12-year-old cheerleader born on Dec. 12, 2012, who has navigated bullying, scoliosis and ADHD and found renewed confidence through her team. Kameronn, a 17-year-old volleyball and track athlete from San Antonio, began competing because a neighbor made it look fun and now holds a national championship title. Jennifer, a Houston runner, took up the sport after losing her mother to pancreatic cancer and now runs Disney races in her honor. Meredith, 53, competes in tennis, pickleball and padel while also coaching and advocating for more women in the sport.

    Another athlete, 14-year-old Camryn from Cuero, was once told her spinal fracture might never heal. Today, she is fully active and preparing for high school athletics.

   “These portraits aren’t just art,” Lindberg said. “They’re documentation of survival and resilience.”

   For participants, Lindberg hopes the experience functions as a mirror, reflecting who they truly are, rather than who cultural pressure suggests they should be.

   She sees that pressure up close. Her own teenage daughter, a petite tennis athlete, sometimes questions her body image after scrolling social media.

    “That’s what we’re up against,” Lindberg said.

   For viewers, the project aims to broaden the definition of what a female athlete looks like: a 10-year-old karate competitor, a 51-year-old trail runner, a daughter recovering from a spinal fracture, or a veteran coach competing in a male-dominated sport.

    “They’re all athletes,” she said. “They all deserve to be seen.”

    The Play Like a Girl coffee table book is scheduled for release in late November 2026 and will feature more than 100 female athletes from across Texas. Each selected participant will receive at least a quarter-page feature.

   Applications remain open to athletes ages 7 through adult. A $99 “Forget Me Not” retainer converts fully to artwork credit, and the session fee is waived.

   Beyond this project, Lindberg said her creative focus will remain rooted in visibility.

   “There’s a thread through all of it,” she said. “Whether it’s the athlete, the mother, or the woman who’s spent years behind the camera, it’s about reclaiming space in the visual narrative of our own lives.”

  In her words: “Let’s be in the photos.”