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#144: Take a Picture, It'll Last Longer

Whether you pose happily or are a serial camera dodger, there are probably some photographs you treasure. Photos are a way of connecting us with our past, capturing a special memory, or even giving us a peek into each other’s lives — albeit through a filter.

This week’s stories explore the unique art of photography, and how it impacts our lives in big ways, and tiny ones.

This week's prompts

Start your story with somebody taking a photo.

Adventure – 75 stories

Write a story about a wedding photographer.

Valentine's Day – 31 stories

A character finds an old roll of film, and takes it to be developed. What do they find?

Middle School – 45 stories

Write about a character who’s pathologically camera shy.

Character – 21 stories

Write a story that centres around an Instagram post.

High School – 20 stories

Stories

“Let Me In” by Shrimpy K

Submitted to Contest #144

TW: Gaslighting, Stalking The cool touch of the camera on my cheek is refreshing in comparison to the harsh glare of the sun biting at my skin, and the clicks of the camera shutter cut against the sounds of birds chirping nearby. The weather has been quite unforgiving lately, so when you decided you wanted to go out to the park downtown today, it was a bit of a surprise. I would do anything with you, though, so I eagerly tagged along. It was nice to watch you get ready so excitedly, with your cute, green button-up sweater atop your favorit...

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“The Girl in the Pool” by Cliff Pratt

Submitted to Contest #144

Ripples spread across the surface of the pool, fracturing the reflection that he was trying to photograph, and Joe shook his head in annoyance. There was no wind, so he guessed that the disturbance was caused some small aquatic animal, a beaver or an otter or even a large rat. The ripples had spoiled his plan to take photographs of the sunset reflected in the pool, but maybe he could get a wildlife shot. The pool was isolated, hidden in a small corner of a wild area. There was a small jetty which had seen better days, but still seemed to be...

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“The Liberator” by Harriett Ford

Submitted to Contest #144

The Liberator “What are the photos for?” Dazed and confused, Professor Sandra Johnson stared at the camera in Timmy's hand. His expression was tender. "You're waking up. Don't be afraid, Miss Johnson. I used a mild dose in the injection. It’s wearing off already." He knotted her limp frame to a kitchen chair and stood back. "Timmy? What's going on?" Her speech was slurry, but her mind began to clear. "I hate to keep you waiting, but I can't release you until...

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“Archie the Tree Monster” by Tanya Humphreys

Submitted to Contest #144

Lee-Roy White snickered as he took off the stolen rain jacket. He’d been warm and dry all the way home, even his hair, thanks to the jacket’s hood. It looked like a golf jacket, and it was big enough to fit him. On Wussy Wyatt, it’d come down to his bony knees. ‘Must be his dad’s.’ He hung it up in the entryway that his father called ‘the mudroom’ only cuz it had tiled flooring. ‘Mine now.’ He snickered again at the thought of that skinny little goomba soaking wet and shivering on his walk home from school. He a...

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“Flycatcher” by Mo Colby

Submitted to Contest #144

I breathe, I take aim. He freezes in my viewfinder, silver shadow fur and bleach, caught in the act of turning away with his face still twisted towards me. An eye-shadow bruise leaks down from his eye. This in the breath before hell patches through: the bass thrums, a dark object flies through the frame in slow motion. He cannot see it, doesn´t know until the bottle makes contact with the mic stand and splinters on his chest. My finger falls. The shutter clicks. I put the cap back on my camera, screwing down the lid on the firefly that glows...

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“Alibi” by Maria Avisal

Submitted to Contest #144

"Guys we have to get a photo!” Kiara shrieked, the pitch of her voice betraying the effects of her third vodka-soda. I rolled my eyes at Alexis but obliged, turning my back to the stage and putting my arms around Alexis to my right and Kiara to my left as Kiara reached her arm out to snap a selfie of the three of us. Having known me as long as she had, she knew better than to let me look at it and beg her to delete it. I hated the way my smile made my eyes scrunch asymmetrically, and it didn’t help that Kiara and Alexis alw...

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“Star crossed lovers” by Andrea Hopkinson

Submitted to Contest #144

Today I am opening my store for the first time.I have saved for many years to have engh many to open up my great looking store that I have dreamed about for many years. I store is stocked with large photo frames,and my books are filled with up coming weddings that I will be attending as the photographer, where it is my job to catcher the love that is shared between the lucky couples.I have two staff members that are working today and during the week, a girl named Anne and a young man named bill. I open up my book of oppointments and notice t...

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“To Love And To Cherish” by Victoria F

Submitted to Contest #144

Ever since I could hold my father’s old digital camera in both hands, I’d been fascinated by taking pictures. Capturing life in a single moment. That first camera barely worked - it was more than a few years old by the time he gave it to me after months of me disappearing with it into the garden for hours on end. I remember him saying ‘someone might as well use it’, and with that my life took a very straightforward path. After finishing school, I set up my own photography business. I knew university would never be for me, as the idea of sit...

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“Her Special Day” by Crystal Glisson

Submitted to Contest #144

I check over the stand and my camera. I always come early to a wedding to find the perfect spot for the bridal party’s pictures. The venue is at an apple orchard, with spring flowers, in full bloom. Photography started out as a hobby for me, but soon turned into a passion. I now run my own photography studio. For being a twenty-six-year-old male, I’d say, I’m doing pretty good. I will have to admit, the ladies do love a photographer. Especially the bridesmaids. This weekend though, I’m just going to hang out and try to stay out of the ...

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“It Was in Greenwich” by Ruth Reyes

Submitted to Contest #144

It was the day before the funeral, Abigail couldn’t bring herself to look over the boxes of photos for her father’s memorial slideshow. It would mark the start of sorting through her parents’ belongings then selling the house. She sat on the attic floor, boxes lay open, she couldn’t decide which one to sort through first. “Do you need help?” Andrew knelt down beside her with his hand on her shoulder. She nodded, her shoulders slumped and her head hung low. “Let’s start with this.” He picked up the box in front of her and...

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“Esmeralda's Red Shawl” by Scott Dutkus

Submitted to Contest #144

1. The metal box rattled as she picked it up off the attic floor. Her fingers left marks in the dust frozen in time on the outside of the green-tinted box. Shaking it, she tried to guess it’s contents. “Coins? No, it sounds like one item. A pen? One of Uncle Pat’s war medals? Maybe a magic diamond that will make me rich and I can move to Ireland and become a sheep farmer?” She chuckled at the last guess. Looking at the latch she saw a dial lock, 4 digits, all sitting on 0. “Let’s see, Uncle Pat wore...

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“Old Secret of the New House” by Zach Martz

Submitted to Contest #144

Don Russell jingled the key in his hand and shouted to his approaching family with an exuberance he had never felt before. “Who wants to do the honors?” “Go ahead honey,” Maria told him, “You’re already standing there with the key.” With his wife and two children watching, Don inserted the key into the lock and turned. The lock opened without difficulty and the front door to the Russell’s new home opened. “Yay!!!” The family clapped and cheered, and entered the abode one by one, taking in the smells of fresh paint, plaster and wood as ...

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“Talking to a statue” by Sally Atl

Submitted to Contest #144

Do you remember how we took this photo? It was Halloween 2016 and we were already seventeen. But we still went Trick-or-Treating. We shamelessly took Oliver's toy bucket with us and filled it to the top with candy. We were young, almost children. And our friendship, so pure and innocent, reminded me of those watermelon ice creams, which we often bought at the roadside shop. They don't make it anymore but the taste is not forgotten. The streetlights burned dimly in the darkness, and the conversation of children could be heard far off at the t...

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“Captured ” by Sophia Nwachukwu

Submitted to Contest #144

What I remember is the pain and the cold, I remember the cold because it was so odd it startled me, that painful numbing sensation you get when playing with snow bare handed crawled up my body until I was engulfed by it. For a heartbeat, I felt nothing. I was not a part of my body or this world, I existed in the ‘somewhere’, the intangible place beyond our universe that people reference when they cannot express what exactly they mean by an afterlife, a term humans seem to innately understand. The pain was immediate, flooding my body like lig...

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“Break Point” by Eric Miller

Submitted to Contest #144

The city below Lukas’ apartment balcony bustled with the sounds of the Consumers - hundreds of people bustling to complete one tedious task after another. Like any city, Omni was a giant machine - fed by those willing to do the undesirable work. Today, a Consumer might be tasked to monitor a waste disposal drone, and tomorrow replace old sewer grates with new ones. Whatever unsavory task needed to be done to earn the credits needed to consume, the Consumers would do.Lukas sipped his latte.And, like the city, the Consumers also...

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$250

Prize money

192

Contest entries

114

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - May 06, 2022 EST

Won by Rebekah Jordan 🏆

Title: Unseen

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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