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

Posted in Dramatic on Jul 5, 2024

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 63 stories

“Simply...Human” by Shauna Dunne

Submitted to Contest #258

Simply Human Messages sent, trains every 5 minutes, the beeping of the checkouts and the conversation between the cashier and the customer. Children crying, adults laughing, cars honking and street lights, office lights, all lights flickering. When you take a moment to look around, you notice how much is happening all within the space of a single second. The world is forever moving, never resting. I don’t mean the spinning of the globe on its axis but instead the constant cacophony of life bustling all around, engulfing every little space. E...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Act of Letting Go” by Jacqueline Jones

Submitted to Contest #258

"The Act of Letting Go"byJacqueline D. JonesThe water flows along gently as Reva stands under the trees at the edge of the river, gazing at the pristine, undisturbed meadow and the glassy surface of the water reflecting the light of the sun. It is a perfect day, with the flowers vividly arrayed in full bloom underneath the clear blue sky. With camera in hand, she glances over the landscape, waiting for the moment to capture the right image.Surrounded by such breathtaking scenery, Reva doesn’t know where to fix her eyes, and she wonders why s...

0 comments 0

Read story

“48” by Maisey Mansson

Submitted to Contest #258

A young smiling face stared back at me from the photo. An ice cream cone in one hand and a stuffed bear in the other. I’d taken this photograph in 2006, meaning you would’ve been five at the time. I flipped through the others. A large binder held the laminated collection. A lifetime of memories. A short lifetime- but a lifetime, nonetheless. First day opening your eyes to the world. First steps. First doctor’s appointment. First time seeing snow. First time riding a bike. First day of kindergarten. First time seeing the ocean. First Hallowee...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Storm clouds” by Arctic Pollock

Submitted to Contest #258

He opened the fridge and removed a chilled beer from the top shelf, almost without awareness of what he was doing. Opening the drink, he made his way back to the table where his phone sat next to the partially eaten bowl of leftover chili. His hand hovered over the phone, then pressed play once again on the most recent voice message.“Hey Sam,” the woman’s voice said cheerfully, but he detected a trace of apprehension in it. “It’s Melissa. I know it’s been over three years, but I wanted to talk to you and also ask a favor.”There was a pause a...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Through her lens ” by Lara Gill

Submitted to Contest #258

Unchanged. The room is unchanged. Yet it feels alien without her presence. A silence permeates the air, thick and full as though the house itself mourns her absence. I have always considered myself a man of few words, but now, words seem utterly insufficient. I find myself grappling with the strange duality of mourning her loss while resenting the material evidence of it: a camera. In her will, my mother left me this single item. A relic from her youth. Old. Battered. The scuffed leather traces the camera’s curves, stained with a hint of wha...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Saving Photos” by Andre B. Corbin

Submitted to Contest #258

Susan lifted her phone up from her lap and quickly thumb-clicked three pictures of the balding man sitting on the bench across the playground. Her eyes dropping from the old man to her phone, she switched to video in time to catch him raising up a camera with snubby lens, aiming it at a blonde boy at the top of a bathtub duck yellow tubular slide.Susan’s eyes cut to the boy as he beat his little fists against his purple shirt with a Tarzan yodel before diving headfirst down the slide. The boy popped out of the bottom of the slide with a shri...

4 comments 4

Read story

“Flashes” by Esther Aardsma

Submitted to Contest #258

Sensitive content: loss and grief I'm not sure how I ended up in this profession. As a seven-year-old I was determined to perfect my cartwheel so I could be chosen by a traveling coach searching for a potential future Olympic gymnastics champion. Yeah, maybe Nadia had something to do with that. We couldn't afford gymnastics lessons, so I tried to teach myself. After landing with an elbow in the back of my knee–harder than it sounds, actually–Mom made my big brothers deconstruct the homemade 2x4 balance beam I'd begged them to build me, and ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Pictures of You” by Natalie Vicari

Submitted to Contest #258

After her older brother died, Hannah made a conscious effort to photograph absolutely everything. As a kid, she never enjoyed being in pictures during family gatherings and events. Every birthday, Hannah dreaded the rotation of different family members as pictures were captured on her dad’s Kodak disposable cameras. As she grew older and had more siblings and more cousins, the process became tedious, and Hannah enjoyed being photographed less and less. &n...

1 comment 1

Read story

“The details ” by Kelly Shively

Submitted to Contest #258

A pair of worn hands land gently on my own. They're ashy and feel like sandpaper. I resist the urge to recoil. "It's time to let go." I look up at the speaker, a middle-aged woman in blue scrubs and a semi-colon pin affixed to her top. I want to snatch it from her and throw it across the room. Instead, I stare up at her with ice in my eyes and tighten my grip. &nbs...

1 comment 1

Read story

“Dear Riley” by J Brannagan

Submitted to Contest #258

Dear Riley, I miss you. Still. It’s coming up on six months now, but it hasn’t gotten any easier, despite what all our well-meaning friends have said. You’re still gone and I’m still here and it still hurts. But I’m trying, I guess. I realize now that you had been giving away a lot of your things in the months leading up to… Is it bad that I don’t want to call it ‘the end’ or anything else that sounds so final? Obviously, I know you’re gone and logically I know it’s impossible for you to walk back in the door, but how could that be the end? ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“A Storyteller” by Kara Heisler

Submitted to Contest #258

ClickThe satisfying sound of the shutter opening and closing never ceased to bring a thin smile to my lips. My finger released the button and I lowered the camera, my eyes still stuck on the focus of the picture. Ahead of me was the culprit who had captured the attention of both my eyes and my camera. A puppeteer whose delicate fingers fluttered around, bringing the wooden figure to life. The woman led the puppet all across the stage, dancing and posing while she narrated a classic story of a prince saving a princess from a tall tower p...

0 comments 0

Read story

“I was fine” by Mila Meluso

Submitted to Contest #258

**character-driven narrative**I’m in a state where I can’t remember the last time I cleaned my teeth. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t smell. But I’ve lost track of time. If I had access to certain substances, I’d be high all day, even though thoughts of her consume me whenever I encounter something even slightly subversive.All stories share a common thread: they explore human flaws. From troubled souls drowning in alcohol, which forms the backbone of most tales, to sweet romantic nonsense. I’m exhausted by these narratives. Why must every sto...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Uncovered Hope” by Andrea Krist

Submitted to Contest #258

Shayla peeled back the charred cover of the book she had been reading--yesterday. It had been no more than twelve hours ago that she had last touched these pages. Now they were black, brittle, and scented with smoke. No resemblance of the magical world she had been living in through its crafted prose remained. It had all gone up in flames. Tears welled in her eyes. Everything around her was cracked and broken--the table and chairs she sat in for dinner, the fold-out couch she lounged in to read, even her computer. Every key had melted into a...

0 comments 0

Read story

“The Afterglow of a Memory” by Isabelle Kish

Submitted to Contest #258

*TRIGGER WARNING: Death, traumaPicture this—the city deep asleep in an ungodly hour of the day. All eyes shut, homes locked and soundless—the sprinting vehicles, tucked away from sight. Shops closed. The windows of buildings towering over the setting, out of light. The usual hubbub and whirl, waiting for daylight to advance. The light sources were few and enough to provide for the area. But Hunter could only focus on the hanging yellow lamp that barely flooded his condominium unit with glow. He was drawn to the direct glare of the lamp....

0 comments 0

Read story

“Alone” by Lauren Normac

Submitted to Contest #258

"I wish you would leave me alone!"The shadow demon grinned at him, from where it took vague shape in the street curb's shadow.Gray sat in the stairwell of an apartment building he didn't live in. There were large windows in the stairwell, and he could take pictures of the hummingbirds outside at the feeder from there.A rare one came by, and Gray put the camera out the window to get a good picture.Gray's eyes widened, his vision going dark around the edge, only focused on the shadow demon in front of him."Is that so?" the shadow demon chuckle...

0 comments 0

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

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

Adventure – 88 stories

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

Character – 31 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

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

Mystery – 75 stories

Contest #258

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: Frame of Mind

$250

Prize money

289

Contest entries

88

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Jul 12, 2024 EST

Won by Rozmarin Ideas 🏆

Title: She Owed Nothing to Ghosts.

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

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

Submissions are closed

✍️ 63 stories

“Simply...Human” by Shauna Dunne

“The Act of Letting Go” by Jacqueline Jones

“48” by Maisey Mansson

“Storm clouds” by Arctic Pollock

“Through her lens ” by Lara Gill

“Saving Photos” by Andre B. Corbin

“Flashes” by Esther Aardsma

“Pictures of You” by Natalie Vicari

“The details ” by Kelly Shively

“Dear Riley” by J Brannagan

“A Storyteller” by Kara Heisler

“I was fine” by Mila Meluso

“Uncovered Hope” by Andrea Krist

“The Afterglow of a Memory” by Isabelle Kish

“Alone” by Lauren Normac

🌟 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: