Born in 1959 in Hilversum in the Netherlands. Lives and works in Amsterdam.

Dutch multidisciplinary artist Erwin Olaf Springveld, is a veteran of editorial and commercial photography. In his art photography he often puts the conventions of fashion photography into the service of beautifully complex, often existentially terse portraiture. His emphasis is on precision in all of the visual elements that create an allure of serenity; but these highly stylised, polished depictions always have a subtext, addressing social issues, societal taboos and gender politics.

Olaf has been involved in scores of group shows, and has had solo exhibitions at many major museums including the Bilbao Art Centre in Spain, the Modern Art Gallery of Bologna in Italy, the Museum of Modern Art in Moscow, The Hague Museum of Photography and the Rijksmuseum. He also designed the Dutch euro coins that have been in circulation since 2014, both featuring a portrait of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. In 1987 Olaf began working with film, and in recent years his films have been screened at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the Museum at FIT in New York.