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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#244: Oh Snap!

Photography is the art of capturing light, and moments; a way to freeze time and observe the ever-changing nature of life, if only in a small way. Pictures serve as a testament to our experience, helping us remember, understand, and share it. From cherished childhood snapshots to historical photographs, artistic compositions, and even selfies, some pictures truly are worth a thousand words.

This week’s prompts are all about photographs and the stories and meanings behind them — just remember that, in this case, a picture is worth between 1 and 3 thousand words.

This week's prompts

Center your story around a photo that goes viral.

Funny – 29 stories

Start your story with a character staring at a picture they don’t remember taking.

Mystery – 73 stories

Write a story about a character who risks their life to take a photo.

Adventure – 38 stories

Write about a character who sees a photo they shouldn’t have seen.

Dramatic – 66 stories

Begin or end your story with a character taking a selfie.

Fluff – 32 stories

Stories

“The Meetinghouse” by Martin Karlsson

Submitted to Contest #244

Note: This story contains sensitive content categorized as Tragedy, which is content related to death, disasters, accidents, war, etc. The Meetinghouse The street was just as beautiful at night as ever. I was standing just outside my house, looking up and down the street. If I turned right, I would end up deeper into the center of Tokyo, but if I turned left, I would end up at the canal that were running through central Tokyo, just a couple of blocks north of me. The warm march wind blew towards the canal, so I chose to follow it. I was hol...

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“THE MEETING” by Camille Clarke

Submitted to Contest #244

THE MEETING By Camille Clarke Characters have been changed but this was based on a true story. Was it a rumor or was it just a simple coincidence? Maybe it was a coincidence but if you got your photogra...

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“Mothman Mania” by Cade Recovery

Submitted to Contest #244

Some people take time off between high school and college to backpack through Europe or take a roadtrip across the states. Some walk the Appalachian Trail or kayak down the Rio Grande. Most people do not travel to the riverside town of Point Pleasant with its dinky shops and skulking hills. Most people do not buy a busted-up 2008 Toyota Tacoma off of Craigslist, and stuff the truck bed with the cheap film equipment your girlfriend picked out of the trash near your community college. So that was how I found myself staring up at the most...

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“Memory in a photograph” by Raquel Mora

Submitted to Contest #244

How can you know a place you have never been? How can you feel the wind, taste the air, and even know what you felt while you were there? Onyx Redwood stared at the well-worn photograph. Its edges were marred by age and the contents faded with too much exposure to the elements. But what exposure? She looked about the musty basement, her eyes falling on her footsteps in the dust. The darkness of this place was shrouded by the heavy rugs held over the few windows that would have allowed some warmth, if not at leas...

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“Faceless” by Emily Pollan

Submitted to Contest #244

My whole life, there has been this figure always looming behind me, only visible to me. No noticeable features, no noticeable clothing, just this dark humanoid figure. It’s never really done anything. It is just…there. Sometimes it is simply standing there, sometimes it’s messing with something in the background like a ball or phone, sometimes it’s even crawling on the ceiling. It stopped bothering me when I was six or seven. The only thing about it that has always bothered me is the chill I feel when I see it. The feeling isn’t the same kin...

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“ A Red Dress and An Easter Egg Hunt” by Joyce Schook

Submitted to Contest #244

You never know that one moment will alter your perspective on the life you had before. Once it happens, your in a state of limbo. Unable to move forward and not ready to revisit the past. A past that was merely an illusion in which you were nothing more than a naïve participant.On the Thursday before Easter, Emily had the entire house to herself. This was the weekend her family gathered together for a family reunion and holiday that she hosted each spring. It had turned into a tradition that she always looks forward to. Today Emily woke at s...

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“Mythos” by Alex Alaimo

Submitted to Contest #244

Miriam was eleven when they pulled her mother’s body from the Wismar Reserve. It was six in the morning and the maids at the Estate had forgotten to take the newspaper from the kitchen table where a photo of a water-logged body was printed on the front page. Orphans, Miriam realized. That’s what she and her twin siblings were now. Tears welled in Miriam’s dark eyes, and she stepped away from the kitchen table where the newspaper laid out the devasting truth about her mother’s disappearance. Miriam’s mother, Selena Adamos, had van...

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“A Clean Slate” by Johnathan Nelson

Submitted to Contest #244

A flame swaying atop a stub of melted, beige candle wax illuminates a round, dark walnut kitchen table. A picture of a toddler, creased and faded from decades spent trapped in the depths of a brown, leather billfold lays next to a plate of cold grouper and withered vegetable medley. Howard, a man in his early fifties, dressed in a white button down shirt and charcoal slacks holds a cell phone with the contact ‘Son’ at the top of the screen with four identical texts left unanswered, Danny, where are you? Howard’s urgency growing with eac...

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“Snaps” by Suzanne Munn

Submitted to Contest #244

So, at last I’ve done it! A half decent selfie which I shall now print and add for posterity to the massive box of old photos which I have just inherited from my lately deceased sister.I am still reeling from being part of a family of ten siblings to only four, in just four years, apart from the eldest brother who left this mortal coil several years ago. I suppose the effects of old age were bound to make themselves felt sooner or later, but this rate of diminishing family feels a bit drastic by any standard! Brothers and sisters fallin...

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“A Shot in the Dark” by 𝔊𝔲𝔞𝔡𝔞𝔩𝔲𝔭𝔢 𝔗𝔢𝔩𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔞𝔯

Submitted to Contest #244

In the late 1880s, George Shiras III, or as he signs himself, George Shiras 3d, is the first photographer to engage in extensive photography of wildlife. Cameras of the late 1800s are bulky, awkward things to lug into the wilderness. George 3d is willing to put in the work of carrying his equipment into the dense woods of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States of America. Around twenty miles east of Marquette, a principal city of the region, George floats along rivers in a canoe at night, and when he hears a sound, he tur...

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“Coming Together” by Ivan Cervantes

Submitted to Contest #244

This picture. It is the same round face. Same black glasses. Same dark brown hair. Same green eyes... Everything matches mine. It is saved on my phone, yet... Where did it come from? This place is the same as that cafe I visit a lot, but I never take pictures there. So why would there be a selfie of me? Did someone else take it? No, I look to be completely aware of the camera so it shouldn't be so... "Hey Ushas! What you looking at?" Jenny wrapped her hands around me as she peered over my shoulder to see what I was looking at. "Oh, hey Jenny...

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“The Picture” by Lan Nguyen

Submitted to Contest #244

I’m glad I’ve changed, physically. Embarking on college, I learned how to dress myself well, do makeup, and smile more. It was beyond me speaking of the ulterior motive for such a change. I just made it. I just acted differently and had different views on things compared to my high school days. Aha! Were they laughing at me? They were making fun of my hideous face altogether. The leaves of the sycamore tree by the window, whom I oftentimes greeted warmly in the morning, were hurling a chorus of derision towards me, me in this very photo I wa...

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“The decent camera” by George Wallace

Submitted to Contest #244

The one thing David has always wanted is a decent camera.David is full of excitement he is going on holiday to Inverness. They fly from London Heathrow to Inverness. David is full of excitement, but keeps on reminding his paremts that he wants a new camera that is decent. But unbeknown to him they have bought him a new camera at Heathrow. They arrive at Inverness airport and catch the bus to Inverness. They book into the hotel, David loves Inverness, the clean fresh air and the scenery, wow the scenery. If only he had a decent camera, Dad an...

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“Homo Cryptococci” by Levi Vela

Submitted to Contest #244

Odilon found himself walking through a side tunnel by a heavenly green glow. He made his way into the Great North Vein and continued on towards his chapter’s hall. Upon entry, Odilon scanned the hall looking for a place to sit. He finally found a space amidst the crowded floor, so he sat down, crossed his legs, drew his head back, and opened his mouth. To accept the other’s spores, he first had to offer his. With an exhale, Odilon felt his host fungus release emotion. With an inhale, he received the communal feeling: euphoria. As Odilon sat ...

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“The Guilt” by Mary Reid

Submitted to Contest #244

“The Guilt” by Mary M Reid “Knock, knock.” Caught off guard, Mrs. Forde quickly turned around, causing the dish she was washing to slip through her fingers. “Brianna! I wasn’t expecting you today.” “Didn’t mean to startle you,” said Brianna as she planted a kiss on her mother’s cheek. “Elie’s rehearsing for a play so I have some time and thought I’d drop by. Where’s dad?” “We’re having BBQ so he’s heating up the grill. Why don’t you join us,” said Mrs. Forde who was always pleased when her daughter was able to drop by.“Sounds good, tha...

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$250

Prize money

237

Contest entries

91

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Apr 05, 2024 EST

Won by K.A. Murray 🏆

Title: The Party

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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