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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#258: Frame of Mind

What do you think of when you hear the word "photography?" In a general sense, it involves preserving memories or documenting events — and while not everyone considers it an art form, you’ve probably snapped photos of your family, friends, or even food at some point with your phone!


With that in mind, this week’s theme focuses (no pun intended!) on photography and the stories and emotions that pictures can create.

This week's prompts

A forgotten photograph tucked away somewhere is the catalyst for an unexpected journey.

Adventure – 87 stories

Center your story around two strangers who bond over their shared love of photography.

Character – 30 stories

Write a story where a photograph could change the course of history if it’s delivered to the right (or wrong!) person.

Short Story – 32 stories

Start your story with someone who has lost everything but finds solace in photography.

Dramatic – 63 stories

A photographer captures an image of something unexplainable. What happens next?

Mystery – 75 stories

Stories

“Riches of the Past, Love Lost” by Scott Taylor

Submitted to Contest #258

How could you? What compelled you to do such a thing?The Washington Gazette had us on the front page holding a time capsule. The photo captured us in our youthful prime, clutching what we believed to be a time capsule unearthed in a building my company was working on.Our hearts raced with excitement at the incredible discovery. The media coverage would undoubtedly attract new customers and boost my fledgling company. We couldn’t wait to uncover the secrets hidden within the canister, our curiosity growing with each passing moment. The mayor ...

13 comments 13
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“Twin Adventure: A Cherub, Rainbow and Giant” by Claudine Bailey

Submitted to Contest #258

Click! Click! “Sadie, come on.”  Click! “One more,” fourteen-year-old Sadie said. Click! Click!          Sean groaned. “That’s what you said half an hour ago.”  Sadie sighed and lowered the camera. “Fine. Let’s go.”  It was the summer holiday. Their parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry, who were on a diplomatic tour in New York, had sent the twins to Jamaica to spend the holiday with their grandma, Keturah. Sadie had created a scene about the arrangement, so their father had b...

14 comments 14
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“Flashes of Light” by Cameron Hagerty

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #258

On a July day in 1877, the Sea of Cortez began to boil. Heat swelling from the sun beating on the water for over a year would begin to drift up and mold and sculpt it into a cloud. This rising, energized water would grow in fury, as the heat increased and so did the population of possessed sea water, the droplets began to bump, and grind and smack against each other. As this rowdy brawl, we refer to as a cloud became more agitated, it grew hotter, not even realizing that it was being blown and directed by the wind. All this to say, my f...

8 comments 8
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“An Appointment With The Todesengel” by Thomas Wetzel

Submitted to Contest #258

“Wake up, Pavel. He is here. Wake up!”The voice was little more than a raspy hiss in my left ear but I was awake immediately. I propped myself up on the bed, pulled the sheets back and swung my legs out to the cold wooden floor and sat upright. For a moment I became slightly dizzy and swayed a bit. I had eaten little over the last few days and I could see the immediate flare of concern in Viktor’s eyes as he looked at me, but I recovered quickly and took a deep breath to clear my head.“Hand me some cards, right now. You hold some too. Quickl...

12 comments 12
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“The Crescendo ” by Glenda Toews

Submitted to Contest #258

I suppose I should be shocked that he killed himself. Usually there are signs, well, so they say. I should have seen it coming. He should have been dropping little clues and I sit here trying to recall if he did. I conclude that perhaps I was too self absorbed to notice, too busy, too involved with life to know that death was just around the corner. How is it possible to be married to someone for over twenty years and have absolutely no indication that he was planning to die? Yet there I was, standing in front of my dead husband who was...

13 comments 13
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“The Mystery Girl” by Kim Olson

Submitted to Contest #258

Carol opened the shoebox of old photos, most of them black and white. She felt like she was taking a trip down memory lane, seeing the photos of her family over the years. Growing up in a family of nine children, there weren’t as many photos as one might think. Her parents were not sentimental people. Still, by virtue of having nine children and countless relatives, there were nonetheless a fair amount of pictures.The first picture she glanced at was a hallmark 1970s shot. Her second oldest brother, Bill, had long hair and tight athletic sho...

9 comments 9
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“The Truth, Tucked Away” by W. H. Goodwater

Submitted to Contest #258

Emily’s breath hung there, puffs of mist in the crisp air, a fleeting wisp that dissipated as quickly as it appeared. The pine trees loomed tall and silent around her, their branches quietly creaking secrets of a land untamed. Their sharp, earthy was scent a familiar friend. This was her world, a realm of solitude and silence, broken only by the occasional distant howl of a wolf or the sharp call of an eagle. Emily was alone, save for her father who was often absent, his presence a shadow that came and went with the cycles of the moon. The s...

3 comments 3
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“The Dead Sea Photos” by Luca King Greek

Submitted to Contest #258

Trigger Warning: This story may offend the devout.“This makes absolutely no sense,” said Jack Roberts, interim head of the International School of Oriental Research in Jerusalem, bending his long lean body over the small crate containing an earthenware jar packed in straw, “Where did you say you found it?” Jack exchanged an uncharacteristically worried glance with Antonio Fornelli, the Vatican scholar and Jesuit priest. Surely this was some kind of mistake. “Qumran, Cave Six”, said Hasan Al-Kahlil the field archaeologist, who had r...

10 comments 10
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“See What Develops” by D.B. Thompson

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #258

The camera was as much his companion as it was his tool. He might only take three or four pictures in an hour. Sometimes less. So, he used a tripod these days, one almost as tall as him, and also a long snap cable that enabled him to move about.‘What do you reckon?’ he’d murmur, pacing slowly back and forth, hands clasped behind his back, clutching the snap. ‘Shall we wait a bit longer? Might the light change? Will a bird fly in do you think?’ Until eventually a calm silence descended, punctuated by a soft click when he squeezed the shutter ...

11 comments 11
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“Picture Perfect” by Susan O'REILLY

Submitted to Contest #258

What the hell? My past has just come flooding back, yes, that is indeed me?   Wow, I must admit I look gorgeous. This realization pleases me and then instantly depresses me, if it was a photograph of me now with all my flaws I would sue the ass of the photographer. These days they can change a digital image to portray what they want but not back then, any imperfections removed within a moment. I scour the faces of my students. The more mature of them are looking my image in the eye and take it all in apprec...

10 comments 10
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“Bend in the Road” by George Georgerfrost@gmail.com

Submitted to Contest #258

When I found the photograph, I could not believe it.  Time had suddenly become liquid as I floated back fourteen years ago to a time and a place so very different to where I was when I found the photograph.  I had promised Carter we’d keep in touch, but that promise was as empty as the other ones I made back then. I have trouble remembering things sometimes. The doctors told me that I can blame it on the explosion, but I don’t like to think about that either.  The photo was stuck in a book titled The Road to Kabul.  Back ...

4 comments 4
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“Strange Developments” by Keba Ghardt

Submitted to Contest #258

The man came out of nowhere. Bridget swerved to avoid him, horns blaring as she swept into the next lane, and the car behind her slammed her Mazda into the median. Bridget's head bounced against the steering wheel, and the air bag punched her in the face, hot wires of pain shooting up her neck as the seat belt did its vicious work. Bridget groaned, dazed, as horns sounded a hellish chorus all around her, and there was urgent knocking on her cracked windshield. Looking up, Bridget saw the man's worried face before her vision swam away.* * *Wa...

5 comments 5
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“Countdown to Impact” by Joshua Iyo

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #258

The plane hums steadily, a familiar and comforting vibration that thrums through the metal hull. I sit near the open door, and the world beyond sprawls out—a plain of blues and greens. Below, the earth fans out like some vast, intricate map. I lean out a bit, my heart already quickening up with this feeling of thrill that never really goes away no matter how many jumps I've done.  It is sweet, electric; a pulse in my veins. There is something rather magical about this view of the world from high up, a bird's-eye view that can connect th...

6 comments 6
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“A Question of Logic” by Anne Perry

Submitted to Contest #258

“I hope you realize that I’m a goddess, not a mortal,” she whispered as he nuzzled her neck and planted tiny kisses just at the top of her spine, causing her to shiver with delight and anticipation. “How will this affect our relationship?” he responded, with characteristic logic.  “Oh, wonderfully,” she answered, giving in to the sheer pleasure of his sudden touch upon her breast.          But she did not know this man at all. How could she see then that he would never see the goddess wi...

3 comments 3
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“Esther” by Malcolm Twigg

Submitted to Contest #258

The thing is, when you start researching family history, like it or not, you often find that you end up knowing far more about your ancestors than you do your close family. Not that my own family is particularly close, for various reasons best not explored.I’m sorry, I should introduce myself. My name is Bailey, Robert Bailey, and the story I am about to tell is, quite frankly, weird … if not disturbing.As I said, my immediate family is not very close, stemming from the fact that my father was illegitimate with all the stigma that attracted ...

16 comments 16
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$250

Prize money

287

Contest entries

88

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 12, 2024 EST

Won by Rozmarin Ideas 🏆

Title: She Owed Nothing to Ghosts.

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!

Prompts | Big Blue Hand | 2024-11

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