Taipei, Aug. 13 (CNA) Photos of Taiwan posted by a Malaysian university student on a Facebook page that collects pictures of scenic spots around Taiwan recently wowed online viewers.
"Taiwan is a wonderful place. I could not enjoy these beautiful images alone," said Phong Yap Hui, a photographer from Malaysia.
The 20-year-old man, now a student at National Chin-Yi University of Technology in Taichung, captured spectacular night images of Shimen Reservoir in Taoyuan and Hehuanshan (Hehuan Mountain) in Nantou County that wove together the light and shadows of stars and clouds in the night sky.
Phong said that in the beginning, he just wanted to record his college life by taking photos but he later developed an avid interest in photography and embarked on a series of trips to capture scenery around Taiwan.
Hehuanshan was an ideal place for star-gazing, Phong said, but the volatile weather complicated his photography plans. The low temperatures on the 3,416-meter mountain were also a big challenge for him, coming from a tropical Southeast Asian country.
Phong also said he was involved in three scooter crashes trying to capture great pictures in sparsely populated scenic spots.
One of this favorite strategies, he said, was to spend time lying down alone on a mountain slope gazing at stars, waiting for the moment when he could take the most amazing photos.
Phong said he accumulated 400 photos of Taiwan's sky, sunrise, sunset, clouds, rail tracks and night scenery, and he was particularly enthusiastic about taking photos of stars.
