Photographer Erwin Olaf's images and films have been shown at museums and galleries worldwide, including New York, Paris, London and Madrid. As an advertising photographer, his client list includes Levi's, Microsoft, Nokia, Deisel and Heineken. He recieived a Lucie Award in 2008 and the Joannes Vermeer Award in 2011.

"You’d think the whole city of Berlin was destroyed in the war but many historic buildings survived. 

"This photo was taken in Rathaus Schöneberg, where John F. Kennedy made his famous ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech. Over the past seven years I’ve had this sense that the continent of Europe is changing, with Berlin at the centre. So when I received the Vermeer prize  [€100,000 that you have to spend on a project] I thought, ‘Now I can do something with this idea.’ 

My only brief for the location scout was that the buildings must have existed between 1918 and 1940. If you limit a location scout or a casting scout too much you get exactly what you pictured, but if you give them more freedom then you get things you could never dream of. I start with a contour of the idea. My first thought was a girl with a red balloon. Later I added the older man to show conflict between grown-ups and children. Children are getting more powerful in society. When my parents were children they were totally ignored. 

"I photographed every corner of the location to see which is best. The preparations are quite strict; when I get to the point of taking the shot, I know exactly what I want. With this one we did two ideas but I dropped one. In the other one the girl was standing on the stairs but I chose this because it’s clearer that the girl is the focal point. We had about 12 people behind the camera – doing make up, styling, props, lighting and management. Working in a team, you get input from other people. With the dress, I told the costume designer that I wanted something that looked powerful but didn’t have too strong a reference to the Second World War. 

"I used a Hasselblad 503CX with a phase one digital back. The fact that it’s not too slow but not super quick means you can communicate with your models. With a plate camera, I’d be too busy with the technique. For lighting, I used two lamps on the model – a lighting box and an Octa – and then four or five umbrellas around the stairs. This image took a day to create, during which I also did a portrait of the same girl [below]. 

"This girl is six. She was so proud of her dress that she was turning pirouettes, but from the moment she had to be serious, she did. When directing children, you have to be honest and quick. You can’t be too childish but you have to find words they understand. Here I said, ‘You’re angry with your father’ and for the portrait I said, ‘You’re the boss’.  

"The older I get, the less post-production I do. I just use it for doing colour correction, as you would in a dark room. In the past I’ve done series where I’ve done it by layering images on top of each other.  Once I’ve got the photograph I want, I tell the models to go and then I dismantle the set, photographing each stage. Then you put the other images behind and remove anything you don’t want. But on location you can’t start dismantling the room, so I had to be more precise."

Erwin’s advice for young photographers:

"Know yourself, including your dark side, and try to translate that in your own work. Meanwhile, earn a living with commercial work. Don’t buy a Porsche, don’t marry and have children too quickly, focus on your photography. After ten years, not sooner, you’ll start creating your own signature. 

"Don’t be afraid to imitate. When I started out I loved Robert Maplethorpe and Joel-Peter Witkin and I couldn’t but look at what they’d done and interpret that. Nowadays people want to be unique so much that they’re paralysed. Look at the wonderful photography of the past. 

"Last piece of advice: in the land of the blind, a one eyed man is king. I was involved with the gay movement in the 1980s. They had the most terrible pictures in their magazines so when I came along I made the best pictures, which led to paid work. Everybody wants to be in Vogue but the photographers in there are so good it’s hard to compete so instead find a niche."

Erwin Olaf was talking to Rachel Segal Hamilton.

More Iconic Image:

Martin Parr

Bruce Gilden

Berlin runs until 10 May at Hamiltons Gallery. 

Images: © Erwin Olaf.

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