Recently, the 2026 MUSE Photography Awards announced the list of winners. The photographic work Freeze This Moment from our university stood out from more than 4,000 entries from over 40 countries around the world and won the Gold Award in the Black and White Photography category.

Freeze This Moment was supervised by Wang Cheng, a teacher from the School of Digital Arts and Design of our university, with Zhou Siyu as the main creator, and co-participated by Ren Hang, Cui Duanyang, Wang Haoyang, Yang Zhenxin, Li Runzhou, Wu Chenghang and Li Chunsheng. Drawing on the real graininess of documentary photography and the geometric imagery of light and shadow reconstruction, the work adopts a black-and-white minimalist strategy to connect the emotional resonance spectrum and the translation path of digital image language, establishes an organic connection between documentary and art, oriental charm and international perspective, and presents an image expression with both narrative depth and pure aesthetics.

During the preparation period, the university’s open professional photography laboratory and high-precision post-production workflow provided software and hardware support for the ultimate pursuit of black-and-white tones. The team repeatedly deliberated on the strict light and shadow requirements of black-and-white images, practiced closely in character framing, lighting design and post-production tone adjustment. To capture the moment with the strongest narrative tension, the teachers and students went through hundreds of trials and errors and polished details for countless late nights, finally presenting an excellent work.

The MUSE Awards are hosted by the International Awards Association (IAA), including MUSE Design Awards, MUSE Creative Awards, MUSE Hotel Awards, MUSE Photography Awards and other categories. Since its founding in 2021, the MUSE Photography Awards have been committed to honoring image works that break through visual boundaries and feature outstanding creativity and narrative power, and have become an important platform for global photographers to showcase creativity and gain international recognition.