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

Posted in Dramatic on Jul 5, 2024

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✍️ 63 stories

“Phoenix Rising” by Cassin Villa-Lobos

Submitted to Contest #258

The smoke burns my eyes as I stare at what is left of my home. The flames are still going, brushing the sky while the firefighters try to put it out. My next door neighbor just wanted a little barbecue, a little fun. Now they are burning more than burgers, a lot more. I don't think someone can ever prepare for something like this. Everyone knows the basics. Stay low, check the door handles, stop, drop, and roll. What people don't tell you about is the absolute panic over losing "trivial" things. Things that you look at everyday. That postcar...

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“Still Owe You a Camera” by Lucille Malloy

Submitted to Contest #258

When the police had left John looked around the apartment. An old leather armchair laid on its back like a dead bug, two legs broken and stuffing falling out. The empty fish tank where the snake had lived was next to it. He didn’t know where the snake was. It wasn’t his anyway. He was just looking after it. “For the past five years.” An old voice said in his head. But he had trained himself to ignore that voice, he only continued to look over the apartment. His trophy on the shelf was in pieces, made out of a plastic metal that had...

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“Shutter: A Reflection” by Tara Rengert

Submitted to Contest #258

The quiet click of the shutter rings out through the field, but luckily the doe doesn’t seem bothered. All the local animals seem to have emerged from their hiding spots this evening to meander about in search of morsels. A few squirrels are chasing each other through the trees. Whether they’re fighting or frolicking is not very clear, but they appear to be having fun. There have also been a few birds who have stopped by; they always disappear when I point the camera at them, but someday I’ll get one. The main character of the moment, howeve...

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“Solace Found in a Dead Man’s Camera” by Mark Cady

Submitted to Contest #258

The western sun speckling off the White Rock Lake water brought me back from daydreaming about a wedding where I was working as a photo assistant for my father. There were five voices in the room, all taking turns asking me questions. There were forms and documents in front of me on a large and expensive mahogany desk, which matched the expensive dark wood office walls. I looked again out of the window at the lake as two fishermen in a johnboat zoomed by to the other side. Suddenly they disappeared behind the specular sun...

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“Finally Free-The Story About How I Found My Happy” by Amy Szczepanski

Submitted to Contest #258

I have always been told that I must work for someone else to be successful; to be able to pay my bills; to be able to live a happy life. This was told to me by my parents, pastors, friends' parents, really anyone who was older than me. So, I tried that. I tried working for other people so many times. I have held all different sorts of jobs, from being a caretaker of dogs and cats to working for the state government to doing data entry and internet research for private companies. But, I was not was happy. I won awards at a few of t...

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“Click Bait” by Lora Coleman

Submitted to Contest #258

No one understood. They kept shuffling photos of smiling faces back towards me like a never ending rolodex of faces and places that I had supposedly been to. The rejected photos were like piles of denial that just kept building up with no one noticing that their weight was causing their own collapse. I could feel the pressure in the room as they waited for any flicker of reminiscent acknowledgement. I wanted to say that I wasn’t the type of person that wished for this bittersweet reminiscence that others so “suffered with” but technica...

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“A Family Out of Focus” by Nancy Wright

Submitted to Contest #258

*Trigger warning: Familial loss, mental health. Marla wakes up today much as she does every morning: sobbing and pawing at the damp sheets, screaming for someone, anyone, to save her children. Talk to them a few minutes longer after soccer practice. Invite them to ice cream a mile in the other direction. Pull them from the car before Mac can pop in that old Steely Dan CD and pull onto the highway. Stop the driver, out of his mind on coke, from plowing into the car in the first place. But of course no one is here to answer her cries, no...

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“Love You, Always.” by Brandon Cox

Submitted to Contest #258

The August heat remained heavy and oppressive well past sunset, but John found himself light on his feet as he waltzed up the drive, and against all odds, he was humming. It was a jaunty tune that wasn’t recognizable to him, but he continued on, discovering the song as he went. The date with Wendy had gone quite well. He hadn’t expected much - he rarely did - but she was such a goofball, comfortable in her own skin, and the way she held his gaze sent his stomach fluttering. Sure, she isn’t the biggest hiker and she couldn’t tell you the...

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“The photographer” by Noor El Zein

Submitted to Contest #258

She was finally at the spot she had been trying to reach for the past hour. The view was perfect and the sun was just right. There were long pine trees all around her and 200 meters away from her was an opening between the trees were the light was shining through on the lake. It was beautiful and she had hiked to this spot for the sole reason of taking a photograph of that specific view. It was just as she had remembered it. A month ago, Sandra’s mother had died and she was stricken with grief, unable to get out of bed. It was sudden an...

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“Bedrock” by Bruce Callahan

Submitted to Contest #258

We both knew with absolute certainty that it would never happen to us.Our love was solid as bedrock. We were friends first, having grown up together, seeing each other's awkward phases, our ugly ducklings, our dark sides of the moon.We stayed friends through our swan phases, me clearing up my acne and growing into my body, her ridding herself of the shackles of braces and a training bra.Our love wasn’t based on looks, or passion, or any one thing. It was a collection of little moments in time, our first kiss, first date, firs...

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“Scene of the crime ” by Amalia Wompa

Submitted to Contest #258

She’s so beautiful as she lays there. You can imagine somebody’s entire life and how they’ve lived just based on their body. How much sun they saw, how much they ate, how much or how little they washed their hair- even how badly they wanted to live by how much dirt is found under their fingernails after they’ve been dragged through the woods. This girl must have wanted to live very badly. There was so much dirt under her nails that it filled every cuticle to the brim. She clawed all she could, all while probably screaming and cryin...

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“Memory Loss” by Rose Willows

Submitted to Contest #258

Empty boxes stood sentry in the foyer, beckoning Henry. Threatening him. The clock was ticking- three days to pack up his entire life. He idled at the kitchen table, freshly mopped tile slick under his feet. A lukewarm mug of jet black coffee and an old fashioned donut sat untouched in front of him. The thought of eating turned his stomach. If he ate, then he’d have to read the paper. And then he’d have to get to packing. Henry has lost everything. First his memories went, achingly slow, minute by minute he lost a little more of who he was t...

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“More than the art of stopping time ” by Mirza Pasic

Submitted to Contest #258

Photography is truly amazing! Some believe that photography is great for preserving memories, but it can do so much more. While most people take photos to capture and preserve special moments, that's only the beginning of what photography can achieve. Photography has the power to move and inspire us and even change the way we perceive the world. It can also profoundly impact our lives, which is what makes photography incredibly exciting! Richard always had his fantastic way of spreading the genuine joy that has lifted everyone's spirits. His...

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“Birds” by Stephen Massa

Submitted to Contest #258

Ralph Harwinton was a lonely man. Depressed, unemployed, and otherwise miserable, he walked along the trail path through a thick forest of deciduous trees, swatting gnats, mosquitoes, and other annoying critters that just wanted him for his blood, away from his face. To an outside observer, he resembled a madman. He looked up at the birches, oaks, maples, and ash, the latter having been devastated by that nasty emerald ash borer during the past few years, their bare limbs reaching the sky but providing no cover. The sunlight streamed down th...

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“Nothing. Then Everything” by Grace Stone

Submitted to Contest #258

Nothing. Nothing is left. Nothing but empty promises. Actually, not even empty promises because that denotes they could be filled again like an empty water bottle. But if the water bottle doesn’t exist, then you have nothing to put water in. I have nothing to put promises in. The person who held those promises no longer exists. Lachlan no longer exists, he is nothing. I kneel in the apartment we shared, the place that held the memories of our lives becoming entwined forever. At least that is what he told me, forever. Now, it’s nothing...

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 63 stories

“Phoenix Rising” by Cassin Villa-Lobos

“Still Owe You a Camera” by Lucille Malloy

“Shutter: A Reflection” by Tara Rengert

“Solace Found in a Dead Man’s Camera” by Mark Cady

“Finally Free-The Story About How I Found My Happy” by Amy Szczepanski

“Click Bait” by Lora Coleman

“A Family Out of Focus” by Nancy Wright

“Love You, Always.” by Brandon Cox

“The photographer” by Noor El Zein

“Bedrock” by Bruce Callahan

“Scene of the crime ” by Amalia Wompa

“Memory Loss” by Rose Willows

“More than the art of stopping time ” by Mirza Pasic

“Birds” by Stephen Massa

“Nothing. Then Everything” by Grace Stone

🌟 Similar prompts

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

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

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

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

Contest #258

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

289

Contest entries

88

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: