Intrepid traveler overcomes all obstacles to shoot the stars

Ye Ziyi has been obsessed by the cosmos since 2003, when she joined an astronomy club at age 15 and was given the opportunity to visit an observatory in the Beijing suburbs to view the night sky through an astronomical telescope.

"I was completely shocked by the sky's boundlessness and wanted to know more about the stars," she said.

In 2009, she began a quest to produce a photographic representation of a solar eclipse from several locations. To realize her objective, she made separate trips to Shanghai, Kenya, the Arctic Ocean, Indonesia and the United States, taking shots of different partial eclipses she eventually combined into a whole.

The 28-year-old constantly searches for information related to space and the stars. Her all-consuming interest prompted her to quit her job at an advertising agency in Singapore in 2015 to become a full-time astral photographer.

Loneliness and helplessness are her constant companions when she works, but her desire to show people the beauty and power of nature gives her the courage to keep going. "When I set up my camera and start pressing the shutter, I forget about exhaustion and focus on capturing the night sky to share the images with others," she said.

Her work means she has to visit sparsely populated mountainous areas on her own at night, while carrying heavy equipment.

The first time she visited the North Pole, the slender 28-year-old Beijing native carried a 50-kilogram bag, which was more than she could comfortably manage. "I always have to fight like a strong man," she said.

Though conditions are often adverse, Ye enjoys life on the road. In 2013, when she and some friends finished photographing the Northern Lights at a spot outside Reykjavik, capital of Iceland, they discovered that the road they had used on their outward journey had been submerged by the rising tide.

As a result, they had to grab the sparse vegetation and haul themselves up to higher ground. Though they all completed the journey safely, Ye was in shock for several days after returning to Beijing.

She has faced other dangers, too. During a trip to Namtso Lake, a sacred body of water at high altitude in the Tibet autonomous region, Ye developed chest pains and could hardly breathe. Her companions took her to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with pulmonary edema and had to breathe pure oxygen to recover.

"It was fortunate the doctor was there, otherwise the situation would have been bad," she recalled.

The incident didn't diminish the thrill she feels when exploring unknown places in search of new experiences.

"Sometimes I feel sad that some people don't see the beauty in my photos, but I will always share my feelings about starry nights with them," she said.