Suffolk University sophomore Fenglan Peng may be majoring in marketing, but one look at the 20-year-old’s vividly detailed Instagram account(@astroneca) leaves little doubt that what she refers to as “a little hobby’’ could, were she interested, serve as another potential career path. Since getting on the app, the Guangzhou native has captured a dazzling spread of subjects, from summer sunsets to spiral staircases, with an attention to detail that’s fast becoming her calling card.
Q. What’s the meaning behind your handle?
A. The first part is my English nickname, Astro, but someone had already used that name, so I added the second part. If you read just that last part backward, it spells out “ace,’’ which makes it read “Astro and Ace’’ in its entirety. I like the way that sounds.
Q. How did you get into photography?
A. When I was a lot younger, I really liked taking pictures and so I told my parents I wanted to take it as a major, but my parents said that international students usually come to the United States to study business. So they didn’t really support me to be a photographer, but I just started doing it as a hobby, saving my own money to buy a camera and really teaching myself. I didn’t take it that seriously at first, but I do more now.
Q. What’s your approach to taking pictures?
A. I don’t really think of myself as a photographer. I’m more recording my life. I hang out with my friends, and they’re willing to be my models, so I take photos of them. When I travel, I bring my camera, and so I just shoot and hold onto pictures of places or whatever I see. When I get older, I want to be able to check back and have all those memories. I want to keep all the moments of my life.
Q. Why is Instagram the place you’ve chosen to build that memory bank?
A. Because it’s a social-media platform, you can post whatever, and people will see it. I’m very proud of my life — it’s awesome; it’s amazing; and there are a lot of experiences and definitely a lot of food I can’t have in China that I can capture. I just want to share my life with people there, and with anyone who might be interested in it.
Interview was edited and condensed. Isaac Feldberg can be reachedat isaac.feldberg@ globe.com, or on Twitter at @i_feldberg.
