DP for Zhang's Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004) and Under the Hawthorn Tree (2010), Zhao's cinematography has attracted much attention, with his work on Flying Daggers in 2004 propelling him under the international spotlight and earning him an Oscar nomination.

He told the Global Times that the award nomination was nice recognition, but he didn't even tell his family at first. "I only do my work," he said. "Awards and nominations don't affect me at all."

Zhao began to foster his interest in photography when he was forced to quite professional speed skating at 19. On track for Olympic competition, a knee injury forced him out of the sport. He was asked to take photos of athletes in his team for a scientific sports study. "I didn't know how amazing the camera was until my job was photographing others. I became more and more interested in pictures and my camera has become my best friend instead of skating."