cizucu Presents “Find Your Frame” | Challenge #396

“Find Your Frame” is a global online photography contest presented by cizucu and open to all creators registered on the platform. By curating outstanding works from the submissions, the contest seeks to discover emerging talent and support creators as a community and platform.

There are as many ways to enjoy photography as there are people.
You might wander through the city and release the shutter whenever something moves you. You might take time to engage deeply with light and composition. You might preserve moments spent with someone dear to you. Or you might revisit the photographs you have made and share them with others.

This edition’s theme is “Your Own Way of Enjoying Photography.”

The pleasure of photography is not simply about making technically accomplished images. An unexpected coincidence might delight you, or a frame you initially considered a failure might gradually become a favorite. What you photograph, how you photograph it, and what you feel when you release the shutter—all of these elements reveal something distinctly your own.

Show us a work that conveys the moments when photography absorbs you and the joy you find in spending time with the medium.

Daichi Keaton
In the rhythm of Jeju

📷 Hasselblad L2D-20c

cizucu Editorial Team
This work captures the rhythm created by two surfers and the white wakes tracing their way across an emerald sea. Both surrendering yourself to the movement of the waves and observing that movement from above offer pleasures that photography makes uniquely possible. Releasing the shutter in response to the atmosphere of a beloved place reveals a distinctly personal way of engaging with photography.

urapon / Ryoga Urata
Captivated by night photography and drawn ever deeper into the world of cameras,
I encountered an overwhelming density of light in Chongqing, China.
Architecture layered in three dimensions, an abundance of neon,
and the ceaseless flow of traffic.
What I captured with the LUMIX S1RII
was the very “vitality” radiating from this city.
In the moment when I rendered every individual point of light,
I felt that this was a work that could only be mine.

cizucu Editorial Team
Layers of architecture and neon, together with the uninterrupted streams of vehicle lights, fill the frame with the energy of Chongqing at night. Confronting a scene that has seized your imagination and becoming wholly absorbed in rendering its every detail is a pleasure known only to the photographer. The work suggests that a truly personal image emerges from the pursuit of what you love.

菊地 圭介
Short-eared Owl

📷 NIKON D500

cizucu Editorial Team
A short-eared owl flies with its wings fully extended, staring directly into the lens. The tension of capturing this fleeting instant—and the exhilaration of encountering it after a prolonged wait—are pleasures unique to wildlife photography. Pursuing a favorite subject and witnessing it come vividly alive can also be a deeply personal way of engaging with photography.

Black_GR

📷 RICOH GR IV Monochrome

cizucu Editorial Team
Against a field of deep black, light falling through a skylight illuminates a solitary passerby, creating a narrative reminiscent of a scene onstage. Observing light and shadow and waiting for a figure to enter their intersection is one way to enjoy photography. The monochrome treatment brings the photographer’s singular perspective into especially sharp relief.

ちーぼー
Into a Dream

📷 NIKON D7500

cizucu Editorial Team
Amid overlapping circles of blue and green bokeh, droplets glisten along the tips of grass, creating a dreamlike work. Noticing minute points of light and beads of dew—and transforming the everyday into another world through the camera—is one of photography’s distinctive pleasures. The photographer’s individuality can be felt in this playful gaze upon a familiar scene.

Léa Liu

📷 LUMIX DC-GF9W

cizucu Editorial Team
Beneath an expansive sky, the distance between two people seated on a bench—and the direction of their gazes—invites us to imagine a story before it has been put into words. Quietly observing an unremarkable moment and preserving a relationship or atmosphere that catches your attention is another pleasure of photography. This work suggests that the photographer’s individuality resides precisely in the intuition to release the shutter when something in everyday life makes the heart pause.

【Submission Period】
Saturday, August 8, 2026–Monday, September 7, 2026

【Award Announcement】
Around Thursday, September 17, 2026

【Prize】
Complimentary participation in the cizucu “photo poster project” (two recipients)

【How to Submit】
・Select the “Find Your Frame” contest
・Tap “Agree to the Submission Guidelines and Post”
・Select the content of your post and submit your work

【Jury Criteria】
(1) Relevance to the theme: Does the work respond to the stated mission?
(2) Clarity of subject: Does the work communicate what the photographer seeks to express and convey their intent?
(3) Expressive quality: Does the work demonstrate strength in perspective, composition, balance, focus, color, and other formal elements?
(4) Decisive moment: Has the photographer successfully captured the right opportunity and timing in relation to the subject?
(5) Originality: Does the work demonstrate an original approach to the setting, subject matter, or other elements?