Fire angel, shot by Benjamin Von Wong for Huawei in 2015. [PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY]

There’s more to photographer Benjamin Von Wong than meets the eye.

“As we get older, we stop dreaming, we stop believing that anything is possible because we’ve seen too much of what isn’t,” he wrote on his blog. “And that is why I wanted to photograph ordinary people as superheroes — so that they could see themselves as they had once dreamed.”

His photos of ordinary people dressed as superheroes poised on the edge of skyscrapers went viral online and the Canadian-born Chinese photographer became famous among shutterbugs for making the impossible possible.

Born in 1986 in Toronto, Wong grew up in a relaxed atmosphere with his Malaysia Chinese parents and sister.

Before starting his career as a professional photographer in 2012, Wong graduated from McGill University majoring in mine engineering in 2008 and was offered a job as an engineer at a gold mining company in Nevada, where he did the “changeless work” for four years.

Then he came up with the idea of quitting to refocus his career on full-time photography.

“I just felt like I truly needed to do something I was passionate about,” said Wong.

When he first told his parents, who had never stopped him from doing anything, about this idea, his father, also an engineer, said that it needed serious consideration.

Making up his mind, Wong quit his mining job in 2012, telling his parents he needed to prepare for the MBA entrance exam.

Having only a point-and shoot camera he had picked up in a Nevada Wal-Mart in 2007, Wong started by spending several hours a day sitting at the computer studying the work of the masters.

Seizing any opportunity to connect with people, see new places and push the envelope when it came to his work, Wong made steady progress.

“Nobody can shoot a great photo starting out, including me,” said Wong.

After gaining success, Wong returns to his roots by sharing techniques and behind-the-scenes videos on his blog and YouTube. He soon gained a loyal fan base on the Internet.

“It’s really thanks to other photographers sharing that I’ve learned and grown,” said Wong.

Rejecting the common wisdom that a professional photographer should work with a professional crew, Wong works as a one-man show, using Facebook to invite either volunteers or freelancers to work as his partners job to job.

“I have to say that my entire career has been built on Facebook,” Wong said. “That’s how everything started, just sharing things online and reaching out, and then connecting with real people.”

The Montreal-based photographer, who has always been a believer in hard work over talent, has only been home 11 days this year. His shooting schedule takes him throughout the US, South Asia, Europe and other regions.

Compared to other professionals, Wong said, “I have the advantage of being able to travel a lot, to meet different people. It’s always different and always exciting.”

Wong never imagined the popularity he would gain through the Internet when he quit his mining job.

“People asked me what is the best way to become a photographer. I’m not sure but I believe that when you have an idea or a dream, you just have to go out there and make it happen,” said Wong.

Best known for its epic photography combining the elements he loves, from pyrotechnics and black lights to paraplegic athletes and Game of Thrones fans, most of Wong’s photos are grandiose and imaginative. “

Being a photographer gives me endless opportunities to see the beauty of the world, that is where I get my ideas and inspiration,” he said.

“I definitely do have a preference for things that are fantastical, futuristic, or that make a person dream, something that’s a little bit larger than life. But the inspiration actually comes from the people that I surround myself with, regardless of whether that’s a client or a talent or a location that I just happen upon. Because that’s what I do: I travel and I meet people, constantly. And then from there these shots are born,” Wong explained.

“Through his creative hyper-realistic artwork, he shows how he takes risks, how he is open to the wealth of opportunities in the world, and how when he has an idea or dream, he just goes out and makes it happen. He’s an inspiration to us,” said a statement from Huawei, the Chinese information and communications technology company that just selected Wong as a spokesman for its new cell phone commercials.

“To be a creative, means that sometimes, you need to take risks,” Wong says in the commercial. “I’m young, I can do whatever I want, and that is a pretty sweet feeling.”

Hong Xiao in New York contributed to this story.