Outdoor photography has a way of blending patience, adventure, and storytelling into a single frame. Calgary-based photographer Kyle Marquardt has built his creative style around capturing the raw beauty of Western Canada, from dramatic landscapes to authentic moments in the outdoors. In this Sony Alpha Universe feature, Kyle shares his perspective behind the lens, the gear that supports his workflow, and how Sony Alpha cameras help him document the environments and experiences that inspire his photography most. Follow Kyle’s work on Instagram:📸 @kylefotos Sticking to one style can be effective because it attracts people who appreciate that particular aesthetic.However, it often confines you to a specific category, making it difficult to explore beyond your usual approach. Personally, I prefer to take photos in bright and sunny conditions, especially during the golden light of early morning and late evening. This lighting works well for the cheerful and dramatic images I enjoy creating. Unfortunately, when the sun isn’t shining, I feel compelled to adopt a more subdued mood in my photography. I was reminded of this during a recent shoot, where the weather was consistently dreary, rainy, and windy, leaving me longing for that golden, crepuscular light. I’m shooting with the Alpha 9 III, which is known for its global shutter, very good stabilization, and its incredible autofocus and tracking capabilities. I set the camera to burst mode at 120 frames per second with a 1/500th of a second shutter speed, fast enough for action but slow enough to show movement with motion blur. With those settings, I had at least 90% of the images sharp and in focus. I’m used to culling a lot of photos because I shoot and record more images than I need, just to be safe. But pre-shooting is a spectacular feature because I can indiscriminately start taking photos of everything that is moving, or about to move, but only save the photos that are actually worth keeping. I likely shot a hundred times more photos than I needed, but because only the best ones got saved to my memory card, I found that when I downloaded my photos, I only had the best sequences and fewer images to cull than usual. Another way to stay organized when shooting in burst mode is to enable display as Group. On Sony cameras, it’s in the menu at:  Playback>Playback Option> Display as Group>On If, for example, I hold down my shutter and take hundreds of photos of one bird, but after I take another group of photos that’s way better. The camera will display each shutter press as 2 photo groups. With one click, I can go back to the first series and “Delete All in This Group” to remove them, keeping only the second burst of photos, which turned out much better. With this trick, fewer photos need to be downloaded, and less time is spent on the computer. For that reason, I would say the A9 III is the action editor’s camera of choice. Editors love having options, and if a photographer were to submit photos shot at a rate only a slow-motion camera could capture, they could pick which fraction of a second has the best action for their purposes. […]

My name is Stephen Tam, and I’m a street and urban photographer based in Vancouver, Canada. I’m drawn to the rhythm of cities: how light bounces off buildings, the movement of people through streets, and the quiet moments that often go unnoticed. Photography lets me pause those fleeting instances and bring them to life, turning ordinary scenes into something cinematic. “Street photography is about patience, observation, and timing.”  Street photography in Vancouver teaches me patience. The city changes with every minute, a beam of light shifts, shadows stretch across the […]

By Nam Vo As a portrait and family photographer, my days move fast. Most of my shoots happen during the holiday season when families, couples, and clients want to capture memories they can hold onto forever. I need a camera setup that keeps up with real moments, shifting light, and people who aren’t standing still for long. This year, the Sony Alpha 7RV and the new 50–150mm f/2 G Master lens became my go-to pairing. After a full day of shooting, it became clear why this setup checks every box […]