Drone operator spells out unique perspective

Understandably, many buildings are shaped like rectangles or the letters L and V when viewed from the top down. Shu says finding buildings similar to the letters N and Z were the most difficult.

After comparing a few buildings resembling an N, he finally decided to take a photo of an inconspicuous residential building. The two vertical lines on the left and right are beige brick walls and the blue line in the middle is a glass roof, he says.

For the letter Z, he targeted the China Maritime Museum on the map but found it difficult to see it as a Z when he tried to take the picture.

"I waited until the building was lit up from within after night fell. That made it look much better," says Shu.

In addition to shooting, he put a lot of effort into the post-production of the photos. Shu says his main principle was to highlight the buildings while darkening the surroundings.

"Even if another individual has the same idea of taking such photos, our final work may go to different extremes. We may apply very different styles in post-production or choose different buildings to represent a letter," says Shu, a father of two boys who are very proud of his work.

Shu, who is dedicated to using different photography techniques, including macro, panning and slow shutter, likes to record the puzzle pieces of life and says that he plans to focus on taking photos of racing, which is quite challenging.

Shu, who won the national second in a vocational skills competition for the disabled in drone installation and remote control last year, says he plans to join a non-governmental organization where drone amateurs use their equipment for emergency rescues.

Han Shaowen, who coaches Shu on how to use drones, says that his idea of emergency rescue began when he saw news of a devastating fire in Chongqing in 2022.

"I feel that Shu doesn't only want to live a good life but also wants to share what moves him and help others," Han says.