Photo taken by @Leondowsky
What is your home city?
Who Are You?
Berlin
I am Olf, 28 years old and based at the moment in Berlin. I started to photograph when my big brother gave me a Polaroid camera at the age of 7. My work is influenced by the artistic documentary style of photography and mostly focused on different sub culture. I have also a knack for making videos, creating paintings and generally enjoy reclaiming the urban space.
What is a memory attached to one of the images shared?
One of my best climbs and pictures I took was during my trip to Slovenia. At the top of Europes tallest chimney, at the Trbovlje power station. I climbed it with some friends in 2018. After reaching the top we realized that we forgot the water in the car and had only half a liter for all of us. In the end it was my favorite climb of all time and I don’t think I can ever take a picture like this again. I also stopped climbing excessively because it was hard to top this moment.
What’s in your bag?
I use a Fuji GA645 & GA645 wide with Kodak Portra 400 & 800. Back in the day when I shot more digital I used a Sony A7SII.
Did photography lead you to exploring or vice versa?
Why do you explore?
Photography was always the excuse for me to be at places where I didn’t belong.
It’s in my genes, but it started all when I watched my first parkour movie from France. After that I started to climb small buildings with my brother in my hometown where I was born, I was probably around 8 years old at this time. When I turned 18 I moved to Cologne Germany and started to take photos while I was climbing. I started to take things more seriously when climbing cranes and buildings. After climbing the Cologne Cathedral I got really addicted and started to travel around Asia to climb there. In 2015 I moved to Berlin and got more into Graffiti. In 2020 I started a long term photo project in Ukraine about the Urban Exploration community there. I also enjoy to paint and do artistic videography.
