As the sunset begins to fade on the swirling sandstone formations of White Pocket, Arizona, photographer Stefanie Liebermann waits for the Milky Way to emerge overhead.

With the Sony FE 28-70mm f/2 GM lens mounted to Stefanie’s Alpha 7R V, she doesn’t need to delve into her bag to change filters or even change lenses; she can simply shoot through golden hour into the night. “If you want to change your lens, you have to change your filters as well,” the German photographer explains, “It is always a struggle to do it during the night.”

Her trip to the United States took place during monsoon season, when the weather can change quickly, but also produces some of the most spectacular images. “You have a lot of rain, but also perfectly still puddles and spectacular clouds, like in the Joshua Tree images, and these amazing sunsets,” she explains.

“When I am travelling and I have these crazy conditions, I forget about everything around me. That’s what I love - going with the flow, working with the weather and being excited.” Stefanie knows the area well, having visited Utah and Arizona twice before. “I have maybe spent four months there in total, but I am still always finding something new to photograph.”

On this adventure, White Pocket was high on the list of places to visit, as she had never been there before. “It is like a playground,” she says, “You could be there for seven or ten days photographing sunset, sunrise and nighttime.” However, Stefanie’s time was much more limited, “I had just one day! Thunderstorms were approaching, and a severe weather warning had been issued for flash floods. When you get the warnings, you need to leave immediately; it is those very same flash floods that created the spectacular canyons and rock formations in the first place.”

The next stop was the famous Mesa Arch in Arches National Park, Utah. “Usually, you would be there at sunrise with maybe one hundred other photographers, but on this morning, there was just one other photographer with me.”

It would be impossible to discuss Stefanie’s landscape images without highlighting the spectacular astrophotography photos for which she is known. In this series, she used the 28-70mm F2 lens as usual, including for an incredible image taken in Zion National Park. “For the sky, I used a star tracker device with f/2.0, 120 seconds at ISO 1000. I shot with the Sony Alpha 7 IV. The foreground was captured using an f/2.0 aperture, a 30-second exposure at ISO 5000. So, all the light on the rocks and the tops of the trees is ambient light. The light on the mountain, which looks like a sunset, is actually light pollution from a city, but for me, it proves it was taken during the night.”

Despite the meticulous creation of her astrophotography images, Stefanie still thrives off the spontaneity of the light changing around her. “In Joshua Tree, I was late. The sky was already burning. I was walking around and would see an idea for a shot: the light reflecting off the plants - bright and shining. And I would just explore and try to create interesting shots. I love that moment and feeling of being in a creative process. In White Pocket, I didn’t sleep for almost two nights because I was exploring and searching for images.”

The 28-70mm has opened up new possibilities for Stefanie and her photography, allowing her to combine her love of landscape and astrophotography, which previously wouldn’t have been possible. “I always said no to zoom lenses before, as they are all f/2.8. The difference between that and shooting at f/1.8 is huge for night photography. But the 28-70mm opens up amazing opportunities. It's like a best friend you can always take with you. You can shoot everything with this lens, and that's what I love.”