When given the freedom to shoot whatever she wanted with the Sony FE 50-150mm f/2 GM lens, Swiss photographer Muriel Florence Rieben knew precisely where she wanted to go - Verzasca, a river valley in Switzerland's Ticino region.

“I grew up spending holidays in that region. I always wanted to keep the location for a special project”, says Muriel Florence Rieben. For thousands of years, the Verzasca River has carved its way through the layers of rock, creating spectacular rock formations that reveal the region's geological history through their beauty.

The concept behind the shoot was to create a series of images that represented Muriel Florence Rieben’s vision. “What if a lens could see what I see?”, she says, “I wanted to express that my photography goes far beyond the technical aspects. For me, it is a lot more about my intuition, my feelings in the moment, and you can’t plan that. It is out of control.”

Indeed, Muriel Florence Rieben put the pieces together to create the work - the location, a dancer, the clothes, and, of course, the Sony FE 50-150mm f/2 GM mounted on her Sony Alpha 1 II.

“The subject is a dancer who is a friend of mine. She moves like water. And the clothes were created by a fashion designer friend, who uses water as an inspiration; the fabrics move and flow like water.”

With these elements all in place, the rest of the shoot was left to unfold organically and see what would develop. “I don’t plan all of the details”, Muriel Florence Rieben explains, “You need to be present and allow space for that to happen. It is about trusting your intuition.”

The Sony FE 50-150mm f/2 GM enabled Muriel Florence Rieben to capture a stunning set of portraits, where all the elements came together perfectly. “The lens helped me translate my inner rhythm, my mindset and the visual approach.”

Key to this was how the focal length, combined with an f/2 aperture, behaves like the prime lenses fashion and portrait photographers love to use. “When the lens was released, I was freaking out. I love to shoot with a large aperture, such as f/1.2 or f/1.4. Then, I saw the zoom range with an f/2 aperture, and I was super excited. It was the lens I had been dreaming of.”

Usually, Muriel Florence Rieben will be found shooting with prime lenses, but the 50-150mm f/2 GM has changed that. “The 50-150mm gives that prime lens look - the bokeh and everything. It has replaced the 50mm, 85mm, and 135mm lenses for most of my work. I should add I am also a tiny person and hate having to carry a lot of gear, so now I can replace three lenses in my bag with just one.”

Since the shoot, Muriel Florence Rieben has continued to use the FE 50-150mm f/2 GM for other work. In two weeks, she found herself working on a campaign in four different countries, as well as covering two fashion weeks. “I did everything with the 50-150mm,” she recalls.

Muriel Florence Rieben shoots with the Sony Alpha 1 II, offering the best-in-class autofocus combined with a high-resolution 50.1-megapixel stacked CMOS sensor.

“I really love to have high resolution because I sometimes crop images. When I am editing, I often see new things. It can actually feel like I am shooting the image again because I see something in it that I hadn’t seen before. I can crop and still have a high-resolution image.”

Something that stands out in the images taken in the Verzasca series is the colour. The cool blues emphasise the colour of the water and rock that have defined the region. Then, two very warm images stand out from the rest. “For me, adding the reddish images was a way to give a little to provoke people to start asking questions. ‘Why do we now have a reddish tone amongst the cooler images?’ I added it to explain that there wasn’t just a cool feeling, but there was a warm energy to the shoot.”

Muriel Florence Rieben edits each image individually, drawing inspiration from her memories of the shoot while editing the photo. “When I arrive home after a shoot, I immediately begin editing the image because I am still filled with the emotions of the day in my mind. I put that experience and that atmosphere that I have just experienced into the edited images.”

The final images from the project achieve her aim - to show that photography is about personal vision and intuition, and the right tools can give you the freedom to express it fully. “This lens is really giving me that kind of freedom to express my creativity fully. Because of its flexibility and its wide aperture. So, this is really something outstanding.”