Zhao was out jogging around Treasure Island, near San Francisco, when he spotted a lonely tower stabbing through the clouds

Every morning, Derek Zhao jogs the perimeter of Treasure Island, his home, situated an eight-minute ferry ride from San Francisco. “It’s an endless source of frustration for me that I can’t bring my cameras with me,” he says. “When the island gifts me its beautiful scenes, I should be grateful that phones have pretty decent cameras, too.”

Zhao works as a machine-learning engineer at Disney California. He relocated from Texas last year to take up the role, finding the 400-acre human-made island to be the perfect location, “close enough to the office and all the culture the city has to offer, but far enough that I’m waking up to the sound of seagulls instead of car horns”.