If a picture paints a thousands words, then this photo of the Milky Way above Marina Bay Sands captured by Singaporean professional photographer, Justin Ng, probably paints half a million words, give and take 50,000.

Source: Justin Ng

This photo was published on April 26, 2014, in Ng's website, where you can also find other spectacular celestial shots.

It is also where Ng chronicles his motivation to shoot such images -- not for bragging rights, but to show people that it is humanly possible for astrophotography to take place in light-polluted locations in Singapore.

He doesn't describe how exactly he does it -- guess it is a trade secret -- but he does say that with the technical know-how and some Herculean effort to get it right, and then putting in even more post-processing effort, it is possible to shoot the Milky Way.

His astrophotography, besides being both pioneering and cutting-edge, has attracted a lot of scepticism from laypersons and photographers alike. They cannot fathom how Ng is able to shoot celestial objects in Singapore's conditions and using nothing too sophisticated.

Regardless, he is taking it all in his stride. Which explains why he is painstakingly chronicling his efforts on his own site.

More fans than PM Lee Hsien Loong

For the record, Ng, is currently one of the most famous photographers in Singapore.

He has the distinction of being the Singaporean with the most Facebook fans ever with more than 334,000 and counting. Even Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is trailing behind him with his 327,000-plus fans.

Back in 2011, Ng was already a brand name in the photography circle known for his technopreneurial ways.

At that time, he had just produced his own app that allowed users to see him shoot photos in real time, when he was actively doing wedding shoots.

And he grew his Facebook fan base from 5,000 to over 100,000 fans in the span of six months by organising photography competitions with a top prize of $1,000 monthly, which made Justin Ng Photography one of the top Singapore business brands on Facebook.

The most amazing fact is that Ng only picked up photography in 2010. Since then, he has been published in BBC, National Geographic and Space.com.

Here are some more logic and perception-bending photos of celestial objects shot by Ng:

Elusive Milky Way Galaxy captured at East Coast Park, Singapore on March 30, 2014:

Source: Justin Ng

A long exposure shot shows Venus rising from the bottom left corner on Feb. 28, 2014:

Source: Vimeo, Justin Ng

Or check out the video of Venus rising by Ng after it was edited by Space.com:

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Top photo from Justin Ng website

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