Photos on a star trek

Many participants of the "Ten Years Overlooking Hami" Photography Culture Week and the annual "Sweet Whispers to the Galaxy" Festival, held in Hami last month, were not newcomers to this prefecture in the eastern part of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Among them was Li Qing, a photographer from the converged media center in Panzhihua city, Sichuan province, who also leads a local livestreaming institution. Li first visited Hami in 2015 for a drone photography competition. When the culture week extended an invitation to him to return, he eagerly accepted it.

"In 2015, I was awestruck by the vastness and splendor of Hami's landscapes," Li said. "The Gobi Desert, the grasslands and the mountains are a treasure trove for a drone aerial photographer. I was thrilled to have another opportunity to capture their beauty."

Dai Jianfeng, one of the country's top astrophotographers and an influencer with over 3 million online followers, attended the annual "Sweet Whispers" event in 2022. This year, he returned with a specific goal in mind: to capture the Hami Solar Thermal Power Station.

This impressive project features a mirror field with a reflective area of 696,751 square meters and a 220-meter-high molten salt tower for heat absorption, creating a stunning spectacle under a clear, starry night. "In 2022, the organizers didn't include the solar thermal power station in our itinerary," Dai explained. "This year, my main objective is to visit the site on a clear night."

Zhou Bo, an experienced astrophotographer and cofounder of the China StarVision Alliance — a platform supporting nearly 1,000 Chinese astrophotographers and businesses related to dark sky tourism — has been hosting the livestream sessions for the "Sweet Whispers" festival since 2022.

This year, he felt somewhat pessimistic about the livestream's online traffic. Unlike previous festivals, which coincided with the annual Perseid meteor shower in the summer and typically attracted many of the country's stargazing enthusiasts to Hami, a premier dark sky tourism destination, this year's event was not aligned with a major astronomical occurrence.

Wang Junfeng, a seasoned astronomy photographer, online influencer and cofounder of the CSVA, has been a frequent visitor to Hami, capturing its various landmarks through his lens. Since 2020, he has also been one of the festival's organizers. "This year we decided to postpone our festival to collaborate with the culture week," he said. "But trust me, Hami will surprise us with its wonders in a different season."