Pictory Tells Stories with Photos

Theresa Stone

Pictory is a showcase for people around the world to document their lives and cultures. Anyone can submit one large, captioned image to each of Pictory’s editorial themes. Laura Brunow Miner, who is the editor, designer, and founder, will select a few dozen of the best items from each theme to appear in each showcase.
“Why just one photo?” Miner asks. “I want you to pick your best image — and, it’s really interesting to compare work from different contributors on the same topic. Other sites offer photo essays and bodies of work from one photographer, but I want to help a diverse group of people put together collaborative photo essays.”
How Pictory Works
Step one: Observe and document. Pictory is about true, personal stories, and documentation of our lives and cultures. Pictory members don’t have to be professional photographers or writers, but they do have to look, observe, photograph, and consider.
Step two: Pick a photo and write a caption. A submission to Pictory consists of one large, stunning photo AND an informative caption. Captions don’t have to be perfect, as they will be proofed and edited by staffers, but they are mandatory.
Step three: Submit to a Pictory theme. Weekly themes (on different social documentary topics) give direction to submissions. Each member can submit ONE pictory to each theme.
Step four: Check in to see if your selection was published. The editor selects 20 to 40 submissions from people all over the world to create a collaborative photo essay, in the form of an online showcase. These polished photo sets bring out the best in each image.