Look through the history of photography and you’ll see a repetitive theme. It is dominated by faces. Of course, there are innumerable subjects and styles, but people are a constant. What always makes these images stand out is a relationship. It could last only a fleeting fraction of a second, but with it the photographer is introducing us to the person they’re photographing. They’re connecting us.

As an editorial photographer, Sven Germann is no stranger to connecting. Meeting new people and introducing them to the eyes of millions of viewers is what he does, and it’s a process that inspires and drives him.

Shooting with an Alpha 1, Sven says its combination of features make it the perfect camera for editorial work. “It gives me the freedom to create the images exactly as I imagine them,” he explains. “Not only is it a fast, reliable body, but it can genuinely shoot any type of subject or situation. For instance, the 1/400sec flash sync speed means I’m able to work with flash very easily in difficult daylight and mixed light situations.”

One of Sven’s more recent editorial shoots was photographing celebrated hairstylist Felix Fischer for the Swiss lifestyle magazine, BMQ Magazine. With only a short time to work with people, how does he get the most from a shoot like this? “One of the most important things for me is preparation,” Sven explains. “I want to know as much as possible about the person I’m about to photograph. It all contributes to how I’d like to portray them. Then the location comes into play.”

Naturally, working on editorial briefs also means juggling the ideas and desires of magazine editors. Sven notes that his Alpha 1 is the perfect component for the job as “The 50MP resolution on the camera is great for its incredible detail and the ability to crop a full length or half-length shot into a tighter composition that’s still got all the detail needed for high-quality magazines.”

Touching on the shoot itself and working with Felix, Sven says he was “interested to portray a person whose work is often visible on magazine covers, but who is in the background himself. I had no idea what he’d be like as a person, so my mindset, as with many others, was to be open, warm and without expectations. But we got on well – and being in the industry he is responsive to ideas, too. He understands collaboration is important to achieve good pictures. Like that, Felix gave me so many of those photographic gifts. I was very grateful to him.”

Working with fast lenses like the FE 50mm f/1.2 GM and FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II allow Sven to have a mix of planning and on-set revelation, “both of which give me a huge amount of versatility in framing people,” Sven says, “the Alpha 1’s face and eye detection AF are instrumental. It’s so fast and reliable, that it gives me the freedom to fully engage with the subject, knowing that the images will be sharp, and captured in top quality. A blur in the images only occurs when I want it!”

This blend can make for a wonderful editorial shoot, and Sven says that for him “the greatest success of an editorial story is when the subject, or the client is surprised in a positive way by the images. It’s important to show someone in their best light, but if you can tease out some unexpected element of their character or a creative angle like that, it’s the real winner.”

And rather than a collection of similar headshots, “it’s also important for me to get a variety of shots and framings when working on a story,” Sven continues. “I want an exciting narrative, visually, so it remains interesting for the reader.”

This – as well as the spirit of spontaneity that Sven brings to his shoots – is apparent in one of his favourite shots from the session with Felix.