cizucu Presents: “Nothing but One” Award Winners | Challenge #405

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

This edition’s theme was “Just One.”

When we turn our attention to a single subject, we can sometimes sense its surroundings with even greater depth.
It might be a single flower. One chair. An empty window. A figure seen quietly from behind. Although only one subject appears in the frame, it carries layers of time, light, memory, and the photographer’s gaze.

Precisely because the work does not say too much, it opens space for the viewer’s imagination.
This power of negative space is one of photography’s enduring qualities.

We are pleased to present a selection of submissions and the award-winning works.

Henry

📷 APPLE iPhone 16 Pro

cizucu Editorial Team
We were drawn to the way this unassuming scrap of paper has been rendered with such quiet presence. Set alone within an expansive field of negative space, its crumpled white form and subtle folds and shadows command an unexpectedly powerful gaze. By directing attention toward something so familiar that it might otherwise go unnoticed, the work reveals its sculptural form and texture. It is a remarkably direct yet delicate interpretation of the theme, “Just One.”

김태욱
airplane cloud

📷 RICOH GR III HDF

cizucu Editorial Team
A single contrail extends cleanly across the pale blue sky, emerging with a quiet sense of tension. The gradation of blue spreading to either side and the silhouettes of trees along the lower edge further accentuate the presence of this slender line. The photographer’s perspective—capturing something fleeting as one singular mark—is compelling. Despite its minimal composition, the work evokes both the vastness of the sky and the passage of time.

kenny

📷 FUJIFILM X-Pro1

cizucu Editorial Team
Within a landscape enveloped in fog, a solitary transmission tower quietly materializes. Standing amid air that softens and obscures its contours, the monumental structure nevertheless conveys a sense of solitude and transience. With extraneous elements stripped away, the image communicates not only the tower’s presence but also the humidity and stillness suspended around it. This deeply resonant work carefully traces the boundary between the visible and the unseen.

Yosuke0312
NOT MADE TO FIT IN.

📷 NIKON D750

cizucu Editorial Team
Amid a profusion of sunflowers in full bloom, one flower turned toward the viewer suddenly captures the gaze. The luminous layers of yellow swaying in the light create a vibrant scene, yet at its center resides a quiet strength that distinguishes this flower from those around it. Even among countless blooms, its insistence on facing its own direction leaves a lasting impression. With its direct vitality, the work offers a compelling response to the theme, “Just One.”

Jon Jerryl
Lady Winter

📷 FUJIFILM X-Pro3

cizucu Editorial Team
The silhouette beyond the window and the gently raised hand leave a powerful narrative impression. Through the muted light and blurred contours of the glass, the subject remains indistinct, yet emerges all the more vividly—like a figure recalled from memory. The composition makes elegant use of darkness and stillness, leaving interpretive space for each viewer’s emotions to enter. It is a memorable photograph that preserves the trace of a singular presence.

What did you think of the selected works?

Once again, creators from around the world submitted a rich variety of works engaging with the theme “Just One.”
Through the gaze invested in a single subject and the narratives unfolding within quiet expanses of negative space, each creator’s distinct sensibility came vividly to the fore. Every work reminded us that looking closely at an unassuming presence can subtly transform the way we see the world.

Thank you to everyone who submitted such outstanding work.
We look forward to encountering your fresh perspectives in our next contest.