Let’s face it, 2020 was a time of adversity. COVID-19 has meant countless changes and restrictions in our lives, and for both enthusiasts and professional photographers it’s been no different. But keep your creative drive going and there have been opportunities, too. Mathias Kniepeiss, who specialises in lavishly stylish, staged photography, just shot a project that perfectly proves the point.

“I’m really missing travel right now,” he sighs, “and though I have a lot of customers and clients all over the world, I have no idea if it’s all coming back next year. A lot of things are cancelled, but there are opportunities and possibilities, too. And one of them was my project with The Museum of Illusions in Vienna.”

Starting out in Zagreb in 2015, the Museum of Illusions is now a worldwide brand with its attractions delighting visitors via interactive, immersive and fun optical tricks. So, to a creative photographer like Mathias, it was instantly exciting.

So how did Mathias go about making the setups his own? “It’s a challenge,” he confesses, “but at the same time another opportunity. There are specified photographic points for the visitors, where the illusion is perfect because of lines and depth, and colour, but if you go in there with your own styling, your own skills and techniques, you can add layers to the trick, or make something completely new.”

Adding interest to an already compelling setup, he used striking fashion styling to elevate the look of the ‘head on a plate’ illusion, capturing different views with his Alpha 7R IV and FE 85mm f/1.4 GM and FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM lenses. But when working in the perspective shifting corridors, he added impact and drama with his FE 12-24mm f/4 G.

Before shooting, Mathias did some preparation, working out how he could use the bizarre spaces. “Prep for shoots like these is really important,” he explains, “because even though there’s lots you could do, you’ve only so much time to work in. The more you prepare a setup and styling, the more creative you can be. And because I shot all these images with my girlfriend, Conny Aitzetmueller, we worked faster, too. Normally, I’d be in a team, with stylists and costume designers and assistants, but it was wonderful to create something with a person I love. She’s a professional dancer and choreographer, so she knows exactly what to do from the other side of the lens.”

Mathias and Conny also experimented with abstract images shot through one of the museum’s kaleidoscopes. “We used different outfits to accentuate the reflections,” he says, “and different lenses to vary the effect. One of the things that really stood out for me here was the Alpha 7R IV’s eye-tracking AF mode. I mean, if it can keep track of a subject through a kaleidoscope, then what can’t it do? One of the advantages of that,” he continues, “is knowing I could completely trust the focus to be on Connie’s eye, letting me concentrate wholly on the composition, and working to find the best interaction of her with the reflections.”

“But maybe the biggest advantage of the α7R IV,” he says, “was the resolution. Again, I didn’t know exactly what was possible at the museum, so the opportunity to crop the image afterwards and still get huge files is amazing. Or it could just be a case of switching an image a little bit to the left or the right afterwards in post-production, it gives me the opportunity to do a better composition.”

“Shooting the Museum of Illusions project was super creative and a lot of fun,” Mathias says, especially as it brought him a new creative outlet, and as a previous user of the Alpha 7R III, its successor certainly impressed him “The upgrade is really amazing,” he concludes, “and like a good photographer, it’s always ready for new opportunities.”