1994-1998 Neuer Potsdamer Platz – documentary photography: photo series and photo story, photos by Andreas Muhs

Neuer Potsdamer Platz, Berlin-Tiergarten and Mitte, 1994-1998, 88 photos, analogue

My way of photographing is developing more and more in the direction of architectural photography. To avoid converging lines, there is no way around large format. I opt for a field camera in 4 x 5 inch format. Since photographing with sheet film has always been expensive and the panorama format still appeals to me, I supplement the camera with a roll film cassette that allows variable formats. For my personal work, I almost exclusively use the 6 x 12 cm format. With this combination, the first landscape shots were taken in 1994 on the huge open space between Landwehrkanal and Potsdamer Platz. The only visible remnants of the eventful past of this wasteland, which was once a railway station area towards the Landwehrkanal, are the Hotel Esplanade and the Weinhaus Huth. When the first construction work began on the Debis site, I showed my pictures to the developer. This developed into a loose collaboration, which became increasingly close. I kept the panorama format and hauled the large format camera with lenses and the massive tripod in an aluminum case across the construction site. Sometimes I could use the small hand truck. However, this was useless when I balanced with my equipment over a narrow plank to get onto the pontoon of the construction divers. The groundwater lakes were the attraction of Europe's largest construction site. With a construction site pass, I could enter the construction site at any time of day without prior notice. Over time, this resulted in a complete construction documentation, which was to be published as a book at the opening of the first construction phase. With texts by Heinrich Wefing, the series was published in 1998 in the book "Ein Kunststück Stadt – Der neue Potsdamer Platz" (A Masterpiece City - The Neuer Potsdamer Platz).

Arca Swiss F Line + Sinar Zoom Cassette