I spent a few days in Munich recently to photograph a new U-Bahn series, which I’ll start sharing over the coming weeks.
But on my way to one of the stations, I passed by this staircase—tucked right next to an underground parking garage—and couldn’t walk past it.
It immediately grabbed my attention.
The shapes, the light, the colors – it was practically begging to be photographed.
Originally, I had something completely different in mind. But it’s often these unplanned moments that turn out to be the most exciting.
Maybe this is finally the start of the staircase series I’ve been meaning to do for years.
Sometimes it just takes a while. But now I’m hooked.
I shot this handheld.
Using a tripod here would’ve taken too long and honestly slowed me down.
With subjects like this, I prefer to work intuitively – moving around, testing different perspectives quickly, tilting the frame, adjusting on the fly.
Trying to align a tripod perfectly just to realize the composition still doesn’t feel right? Way too much fuss.
Freehand shooting lets me react in real-time – and that makes all the difference for me.
Fortunately, the Sony A7R V has an excellent in-body image stabilization (IBIS) system.
Especially when shooting a 5-frame exposure bracket with relatively slow shutter speeds (down to 1/8 second), it would’ve been nearly impossible to get a usable handheld result without stabilization.
Thanks to IBIS, I was able to shoot the entire series freely and flexibly
Captured as an HDR RAW composite from a 5-shot exposure bracket at 2 EV intervals (–4 EV to +4 EV).
This way I could preserve the full dynamic range and create a final image that almost feels like an illustration – clean, graphic, and softly lit throughout.
Tech specs:
📷 Sony Alpha 7R V
🔭 Sony FE 14mm f/1.8 GM
🔍 14 mm | f/4 | 1/8 s
🌙 ISO: variable (depending on the bracketed exposure)
Just wonderful and a very keen photographic eye here Stefan!
I LOVE spiral staicases. They invite photographs!
This reminds me of a flower that I have in my flower boxes for the summer,The Mandevella, as it unfolds its beauty.
Dan
The color makes it nice, and interesting flow. Not sure what is really happening in the upward portion and how the wood breaks away from the other piece though. But I'll think about the why there.
