A pictory=
a picture + story=
a captioned image=
a photo story
Each collaborative photo essay moves me with its honest (usually amateur or semi-pro) photography and affectionate storytelling. The contributors are just regular people, who were just living their lives, and likely had no idea that in the time between when the shutter opened and closed, they would be bound together with strangers on a website by their common human experience.
I originally stumbled onto the site when someone Tweeted the essay "The One Who Got Away," which was published in February of last year. Learning about new, interesting people energizes me and I also love love, so each story of love lost or love found filled me with either sorrow, cheer or understanding. And that's the thing about this site... each essay fills you with something.
Here's a link to a recent feature on my adopted city of San Francisco (I mean, you can't take a bad pic of the place) and below is one of my favorite Pictorys in the essay (not least of all because it's taken in my old 'hood).
Lead Down the Garden Path
Looking south down Hyde Street from a balcony in Russian Hill, I thought of all the people drawn to this beautiful city from afar for its promise. Not everyone finds the reality as perfect as their vision. Just like in any city, there’s no shortage of melancholy, unrealized dreams, lost fortunes, and lives ending too soon. But in San Francisco there’s also a persistent optimism that stands out even in the midst of hard times. New things are always being created here.
This image was taken with a Nikon D90.
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