As two-time World Enduro Champion Johnny Aubert snakes his way across a dry lake in Turkey’s Ankara province, action specialist Philip Platzer follows his progress, rattling through exposures at 30fps. The bike weaves around sun bleached rocks and plunges through arid gullies, and Philip’s Sony Alpha 1 is the only thing out there fast enough to cope with it. Each frame is packed with dynamism and detail… but it nearly didn’t happen this way at all.

Hours earlier, at a different location, things did not look so good. “We’d agreed to shoot at a salt lake that had been picked out for us,” Philip explains, “but immediately there was something amiss - there was no dust…just a delicate covering of salt crystals. Beautiful, but not right for us because for these shots, I wanted energy and adventure and that needed a place where we could tear it up, throwing sand, stones and dust into the air.”

Yet, realising mistakes, getting up and going again is exactly what leads to great achievement in sport – and photography, too. “That’s probably the main thing I’ve learned through action shoots,” Philip continues: “To push for the best, and not settle for what’s easy. I’m never afraid to experiment. Finding the right location is a big part of that, along with being creative in my exposures.”

This experimentation is all about communicating the power and the speed of the bike through motion, he continues, “which often comes from slower shutter speeds, effects like panning and the way it interacts with those dirt roads. I want the viewer to feel every bump and acceleration of that 200kph bike.”

In another situation where Johnny Aubert zig-zagged up a dirt path, a different approach was needed. “This was more technical terrain, so I wanted to make images that showed the bike handling it,” Philip explains. “Here it was more about experimenting with composition, surrounding him with obstacles to show the adventure, but with the f/2.8 shallow depth-of-field to frame him coming through adversity.”

As a marketing project, of course other types of shots were needed, too. “It’s always a mix,” Philip explains, “so as well as the pure action, it’s important that logos or paint jobs are visible, so you need to choose angles carefully. Again, the location was important. We had lots of space to perfect the tire track, and the end-of-day lighting worked perfectly.”

With the Sony Alpha 1 at his side, Philip points out three main advantages, all of which let him concentrate on composition and direction, rather than worrying about settings. “The biggest one is the Alpha 1’s autofocus,” he says. “It’s something you can rely on 100% and know that it’s not going to get confused by the speed of the bike, or the dust that’s blowing around. Most of the time, I’m shooting with the 70-200mm f/2.8 GM wide open, so focus has to be spot on, and there’s never any front or back focus with this camera. It’s a big, big step forward in sports photography.”

Philip also saw the advantage of the Alpha 1’s maximum 30fps mode. “This is really about dramatic posture,” he explains, “because within a burst of frames, one shot will always have the best angle or pose. It's a split-second thing where the wheel can drift into the perfect place, and then it’s gone again. Using the Alpha 1 in that mode is like freeze-framing a video, but with all the quality of a high-resolution still.”

And the Sony Alpha 1’s 50 megapixel resolution is something Philip sees huge benefit in. “The ability to crop into action images is really helpful, but it’s not just about pushing in closer. With images needed across print and web in horizontal and vertical format, the Alpha 1 makes it really easy to shoot in the former and crop frames into the latter. For instance, at the start of a motocross race, there’s no time to change orientation, so it really helps.”

Looking back on another successful project with the Sony Alpha 1 at his side, Philip feels he’s always learning. “This shoot really reminded me how important location is in action photography,” he finishes, “and to not settle for something that doesn't feel right. With a few changes to our shoot and with the Alpha 1 to back me up, we were back in the right place and ready to succeed.”