Keeping a high profile

He usually has two safety belts attached to his body-one fitted to the aircraft and another he brings with him as a backup. He crouches slightly so that he can adjust the angle of his body more easily. The fear of falling is a constant companion, and a racing heart is just another part of the job.

The constant roar of the rotors leaves his head in a spin, and it takes a couple of weeks for the ringing in his ears to stop after each shoot.

To help him set up the camera, compose and seize the right moment, the helicopter has to hover over the subject repeatedly. A circular area of between 500 and 1,000 meters in diameter is needed for each pass to take a few shots.

Sometimes he feels so dizzy that he has to ask the pilot to make a temporary landing and take a rest before having another try.

But the end results are worth it. Using multiple cameras, he manages to take pictures from heights that few photographers have ever had the chance to attain. He has also started using drones in recent years.

Xun Yongli, a fellow shutterbug and a friend of Ma's for more than a decade, says Ma will try again and again regardless of time or cost to capture a satisfying image. When he's not on a shoot, he immerses himself in improving his photography skills and exploring the technical limits of the equipment that he spends most of his money on.

One of Ma's works revealed a garden-like old quarter northwest of the city center around Houhai Lake.