There’s a Story Here Somewhere: Inspirational Images from Flickr

*Looking for the Summer (June – August) Writing Challenge – Every Picture Has a Story? See below for details.*

Flickr is my favorite site to scout for images to use on my blog. There’s a wealth of Creative Commons licensed images and it’s easy to search for them. The images vary widely in quality and artistic value but I’ve rarely failed to find just the right one for a post.

And, of course, it’s all free…which might be the most important factor to a blogger who isn’t making money off her blog.

My Favorites stream over there is already jammed with more images than I can use in a couple of years but I just keep adding more. So many of the images I’ve encountered have captured my imagination, inspiring blog posts, stories and stories-to-be. Here are some that have really stuck with me even though they have no story…yet:

 

The associations with Labyrinth are obvious but there are more possibilities here. Is it a crystal ball that shows a vision of the future? Is it a prison? Perhaps it’s a weapon…and what happens when it shatters?

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A comedy or adventure story? Two unlikely pals and all that. A furry coming-of-age tale, perhaps.

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Where does this bridge go exactly? And should we be running towards it…or away from it?

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A spiral path in the snow. Who made it and why?

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What happened in this room?

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Such a beautiful, peaceful lake. There must be a romance story in here somewhere. Except…I keep thinking that maybe I don’t want to be here after dark.

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It’s just around the next corner, everything you’ve ever wanted to know. Or maybe those are searchlights…and they’re moments away from finding you.

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This tree holds an ancient secret…and it may be our only hope.

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Is this a natural fog? What hides within it?

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What do you see in these images? Where do you find inspiration for your posts and stories? And what is your favorite image site?

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And now for the Summer (June – August) Writing Challenge…

Every Picture Has a Story

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to take one of the images above, an image you own or one you have permission to use and create a story. As usual, any genre will do and the word count limit is 500.

Here’s how it all works:

• Prompt: Take an image (choose from one of the above, an image belonging to you or one you have permission to use) and tell its story. Be sure to include whichever image you use in your story post.
• Genre: Anything goes. Mystery, Western, romance, historical fiction, alternate history, steam punk, science fiction, horror, fantasy, slip-stream, or whatever.
• Word count: 500 words.
• How to share: You can put it up on your blog and link here or (if you don’t have a blog) you can email (sonia DOT m DOT writes AT gmail DOT com) it to me and I’ll put it in a post for you.
• Time limit: From now until the next challenge is posted.
• Prizes: No…no prizes. Just the reward of a story well written.

There were some fabulous stories for the April-May Writing Challenge. See the comments section to check them out.

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Image Attribution (In Order of Appearance):
You Have No Power Over Me (151/365) by beast love, on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Wolf and Cat iPhone wallpaper by xploitme, on Flickr CC BY-SA 2.0
forward by paul bica, on Flickr CC BY 2.0
Spiral Snow Labyrinth by Roger Lynn, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Shades of grey….. by LoneWolfMontana, on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
 Forest lake in summer by Axel-D, on Flickr CC BY 2.0
Are you experienced? by phill.d, on Flickr CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Here Be Squirrels by JourneyVerse, on Flickr CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Fog by Crismatos ♥ Seize the day, on Flickr CC BY 2.0

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