Read Your Photography | A Memory from 40 Years Ago, Wrapped in Light | Focus #753 | photo poster project

Read Your Photography turns our attention to the stories behind each photograph—the stories you cannot encounter by simply looking. Through photos gathered via cizucu’s photo poster project and social media, cizucu magazine shares the stories and personal moments behind each image in 12 languages with audiences around the world.

You may choose to keep a story to yourself. But sharing it could quietly touch someone and spark a feeling they have never experienced before.

This time, we’re featuring photos by five creators from around the world.
Let’s take a closer look at their one-of-a-kind stories.

Shark

📷 Apple iPhone 16
📚 01

I still remember that day at the subway station.
You said, “I want something sweet after this.” We had both been saving up our pocket money, and we excitedly talked about which film we would see after dessert.
You kept chatting away, never noticing that I couldn’t take my eyes off your cheek, outlined by the sunlight.

cizucu editorial team
The diagonal lines of the escalators frame two people facing each other. Their casual conversation during an everyday journey, and the way one looks at the other, convey a quiet closeness. The profile edged in light and the soft monochrome tones gently bring back a memory of youth.

Okhar_drukpa

📚 02

I took this photo more than 40 years ago, when I was just getting started in photography.
At the time, a senior photographer was planning an exhibition about Hong Kong’s outlying islands. Along with a few other photography enthusiasts, I spent around six months visiting the islands and taking photos whenever I could find time between work commitments.
I was lucky enough to have this photo selected for the exhibition. The senior photographer also encouraged me to enter it in a major photography competition at the time, where it won bronze in its category.
I took it in winter. I can still remember being struck by the light and shadow as warm sunlight wrapped around two elderly people in the distance.
The negative wasn’t stored in ideal conditions, so it has lost some of its original clarity. But the passing years have left their own mark on it.
The photo is titled Whispered Secrets.

cizucu editorial team
Two figures emerge in the winter sunlight, leaning towards each other as they talk. Deep shadows surround their private moment, and true to the title, Whispered Secrets, the photo invites us to imagine a conversation no one else can hear. The scratches and fading of the film make it feel as though the photograph itself carries the passing of those 40 years.

Jacobelieve

📷 Apple iPhone X
📚 03

The fearless courage I had when I was young has grown into experience as time has passed and my responsibilities have increased. At the same time, I’ve gradually had less room to take risks. I can do more now, yet it feels as though there are fewer things I can throw myself into without hesitation.
But that also means I have more things I don’t want to lose, and that my life is happier now. That’s why simply having this moment in a photo feels like enough.

cizucu editorial team
A small figure leaps from the top of a rock towards the sea, standing out against the open sky and water. In the instant their feet leave solid ground, we sense not only the boldness of youth but also a willingness to surrender to whatever comes next. What we can do, and what we choose not to do: this striking photo brings those changes in life together in a single leap.

What did you think?

We want to look beyond what an image alone can tell us. Read Your Photography is a series about noticing the thoughts and feelings behind a photo and taking them in as a story.

A photograph captures only a moment. But behind it lies all the time that led up to that moment, along with feelings that may never have been put into words.

Take your time with each photo. Read it like a story, turning one page after another.

From time to time, cizucu shares a photo theme on Threads.
All you need to do is reply with one of your own photos that fits the theme.

There’s only one requirement: follow cizucu on social media 💙
We’ll choose from the submitted photos,
and the cizucu editorial team will contact the selected creators directly!

Read Your Photography also features photos exhibited through cizucu’s photo poster project (ppp).

ppp may already be taking place in your country. Encounters built around nothing more than a shared love of photography are now spreading around the world.