Emerging from his tent on the slopes of the Bishorn in Switzerland’s Pennine Alps, Joni Hedinger is confronted with darkness. It’s still the middle of the night, but also time to ascend to the summit for what he hopes will be a mesmerising sunrise. Already making the 4,153m climb two days before, but with the view defeated by thick clouds, this is his last chance.

“The Bishorn had been top of my list for a long time,” Joni remembers. “Despite the weather, the earlier ascent was amazing because it was my first ever 4,000m peak. I’d heard amazing things about the view from the summit on a clear morning and was desperate to see it in its full glory. Fortunately, it was everything I expected.”

Shooting professionally since 2015, Joni has worked in many areas, but the mountains are his true love. “The combination of adventure, experience and creativity is what fascinates me,” he explains, “and that’s exactly what I have on those trips. I hike to the most beautiful places and try to immortalise these feelings with my camera.”

The ingredients needed for that are multiple he says, from working in the right light, to careful composition that puts the viewer in his shoes and using a lens that gives a realistic view of the world. “I like to make images with figures in the frame,” he explains, “as it gives a sense of scale and lets people imagine themselves in that adventure, too.”

As for his lens choice, Joni has long been wedded to using a 35mm prime to record his adventures, and he now shoots with the exemplary Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM. What’s so attractive about that focal length? “For many years, I shot with the Sony Zeiss FE 35mm f/1.4,” he explains, “and I’d still be using that lens if the new 35mm GM had not arrived. This focal length on a full-frame camera is the perfect documentary lens. Whether a wedding or an alpine adventure, 35mm reproduces moments in a way that’s as close to a human view as possible.”

“I usually only switch to other focal lengths when I need something specific. For example, a much broader wide-angle view in a tight space, or if I want to get closer to a subject with a telephoto lens. But those focal lengths always give a view that’s a little separated from how we really see.”

As for the 35mm itself, Joni has been immensely impressed by all aspects of the lens. “Along with my Alpha 7R V and Alpha 7 IV, the speed and accuracy of the autofocus helps me to be more creative, keeping my concentration on photography and not settings,” he says. “When I picture people in the landscape, I can zoom in and see that the focus always sits perfectly on the eyes.”

The maximum f/1.4 aperture is also a big benefit for Joni, and one of the reasons he likes to work with primes, too. “For adventure pictures, I might often be shooting around dawn, sunset or in the blue hours, so I need all the light I can get,” he explains. “Light in the mountains can be fleeting, so it’s important I can work handheld in low-light any time I need.”

“Because of the style of photography I like, I usually work wide open,” he continues, “which gives a nice depth to almost every picture even if the subject is not close. Sometimes I’ll stop down to f/4, but rarely beyond that even for landscapes. I prefer images where there is a little bit of softness from a limited depth of field, as again it’s more like we see with our eye.”

The 35mm is also renowned for its sharpness, something which hasn’t been lost on Joni. “More and more I print my pictures in large format, so it’s especially important that images have great quality and sharpness. That’s why Sony’s GM lenses are perfect for me. Knowing that I’ll get great clarity straight out of the camera also means I don’t have to do any special processing and can spend more time shooting!”

“Finally, at just over 500g, the lens is surprisingly light, which anyone who’s climbed a mountain will know the value of!” Joni laughs, “and I also like the fact that it has a physical aperture ring, which makes it easier to adjust when I’m wearing gloves.”

Already planning his next adventure with the Sony FE 35mm f/1.4 GM, Joni is looking to Norway and hoping to catch the evasive aurora borealis. “I want this lens with me on many trips to come, and of course it’ll be with me on future Alpha cameras, too,” he concludes. “Great lenses stay with you.”