Ma Liang's photos feature a mother with her son. Zou Zhongpin / China Daily

Ma Liang's photos feature a whole family. Zou Zhongpin / China Daily

"Art shouldn't be only about exhibits in the museum or expensive items under the auctioneer's gavel. The ultimate goal of art is to bring comfort and joy to the audience," Ma says.

"I hope to present really useful art by sharing the comfort and joy with ordinary people," he adds, giving examples.

In Nantong, Jiangsu province, a college campus couple sat shoulder-to-shoulder, reading books in silence. They didn't know whether they would separate after graduation and wanted Ma to take what might be their last photo together.

In Chengdu, Sichuan province, a young woman and her boyfriend, who had been disfigured in a car accident, turned up. The woman said she hoped her boyfriend could become confident again after seeing the photo Ma took of them.

"Life is tough but art can protect people from being torn down by the cruel reality. My photos cannot change their lives, but the photos can provide warmth," says Ma.

The versatile artist believes that, "A photo is related to time. A photo will become more precious as time goes by. It captures those moments that are written in water and helps us remember our lives and people important to us."

Ma is a zealous collector of antique photos and has purchased thousands from second-hand markets over the past decade.

He is also obsessed with the old-fashioned way of taking a photo in a studio against a well-designed background, in the age of digital cameras.

"I believe that the instant emotional exchange between the photographer and the subject in the old-fashioned photo studio is irreplaceable."

Xu Jing went to Ma's mobile photo studio for a photo with her 20-month-old daughter.

"When I was a child, my family would go to the studio to take a photo every year. Although the background was simple, I was excited about going through the 'ceremony' of taking a beautiful photo together with my parents. I want my daughter to have such experiences too," says the 31-year-old.

Xu admits that she seldom goes to a photo studio now. "There are fewer and fewer photo studios. And many of them are promoting expensive unnatural artistic photo packages," Xu says.

Ma has no plans for another mobile photo studio project in the future.

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime journey. I'm not sure whether I can still afford the time and energy to do it again, but I'm sure that when people look at the 'old' photo I took for them years later, they will recall how our mobile photo studio traveled into their life and warmed them with good will."

Contact the writer at xujingxi@chinadaily.com.cn.