“I wanted to discover more of Norway than you see in many photo shoots,” says Turkish Photographer İlhan Eroğlu. His recent trip to the country with his Sony Alpha 7R V was a trip to explore and see the beautiful Norwegian landscape. “I wanted to shoot authentic things about the region - the wooden cabins, the incredible lakes, the rugged mountains, and the quaint villages,” İlhan emphasises.

With İlhan for his adventure were his Sony Alpha 7R V and Sony FE 12-24mm f/2.8 GM, FE 24-70mm f/2.8 GM II and FE 70-200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II lenses. These three lenses provide a full 12-200mm range, all whilst shooting at f/2.8 using the latest Sony optical and autofocus technology.

“I always use the Sony G Master lenses because of the high resolution and sharpness, especially when paired with the 61-million-pixel sensor of my Alpha 7R V. There is no distortion with these lenses, and the autofocus is very fast,” says İlhan. “Plus, the fact that they are lightweight is essential to me,” he continues.

That light weight allows İlhan to walk, climb and explore to reach some of the incredible viewpoints where he captures his images. However, this set in Norway didn’t always require the usual effort to get the best photos.

“My favourite photo of the trip is the photo taken in Rakssetra with the wooden cottages and my wife as the model,” he recalls. “It is an incredible view, looking down on the small wooden cabins onto the fjord below, with the mountains in the background. It is one of the very special places for me. There were just a few cabins and no one around. And it didn’t take much effort to get there; it was a short 30 or 40-minute hike. I shot the scene with and without the model to see which of the two images looked right. I preferred the one with the model, my wife, in it. To be there and to have that kind of view with someone you love was so special.”

The day that the İlhan ventured to Rakssetra wasn’t perfect. “It was a rainy day,” recalls İlhan. “As we reached the location, the clouds broke a little, and patches of the sky became clear.” With the high contrast of the bright clouds and dark, shaded mountains, the scene required the high dynamic range of the Alpha 7R V to ensure plenty of detail in the images.

“The advantage of the dynamic range of the sensor is most strongly felt in situations like this. If the light is not good enough in these conditions, I can always get detailed high-resolution photos with no noise in the shadow areas.” İlhan makes use of the sensor's full dynamic range by shooting raw images, giving him flexibility when it comes to editing the photos when he is sitting at his computer.

Also helping get the absolute most from each scene is the fact that İlhan prefers to shoot using full manual exposure. Tools like the histogram, the EVF, and the rear screen show how the image will look before he has even pressed the shutter on his Alpha 7R V.

İlhan shot the wooden cabins at Rakessetra at sunrise and sunset, but the image you see here is the one he likes the most. “It is an incredible place. I would love to shoot there in the winter,” he thinks, “but I wouldn’t dare to hike there in the wintery conditions.”

For someone visiting Norway for the first time, İlhan recommends visiting during the summer months. “The days last a long time, and the weather is good, so both the travelling and the photography are comfortable and easy to enjoy.”

On his visit, İlhan also visited Ålesund, a port town on the west coast of Norway. “It is a very cold northern town. The beautifully painted houses make it look like a toy town when you look down on it from the surrounding hills.”

Another location was Geiranger. “I want to go back there again on a sunnier day,” says İlhan. “It was an incredible day with the boat ride down the fjords to reach the starting point of a hike up to the top of the hill to reach the photo location.”

Sharing some of these beautiful locations, both through his images and in reality, is part of the joy of landscape photography. İlhan runs small workshops for photographers, teaching them to shoot incredible landscape photographs like his. However, his trips are also about experiencing the location. “I love seeing these incredible locations for myself,” says İlhan. “I get excited thinking about how the people on my photo tour will react when they see the place for the first time.”