Pictory wants you to tell stories through stunning photography

TNW Quick Hit

Pictorymag: A magazine website where people submit photos with a single caption and a little background information. The best photos are selected and showcased. Each photo tells a story, a pictory.

Hits: Beautifully designed website, easy to navigate and browse through ‘pictories’. A very compelling experience and very much leaves you wanting more.

Misses: No mobile app, it is missing the explosion in the mobile-photo-sharing market. Pictory is viewable on mobile devices but not user-friendly. Only a few pictures make the final cut. It would be interesting to view the other submitted photos. There are no comments enabled under the photos. The  website distinctively lacks a social layer with share buttons hidden.

Overall: 4/5

The Details: Pictory was founded and is maintained by Laura Brunow. Brunow was previously the editor in chief of JPG Magazine. She is based in San Francisco and is listed in the “Most Influential Women in Tech” by Fast. She single-handedly maintains and runs Pictory.

Pictory brings together amazing photographs that tell stories. The pictories are then categorized into topics, which come together to make a delightful book of pictories.

How does it work? Each week Brunow selects 20-40 pictories to be published on the site. Some frequent contributors have a bio page. If you want to submit a photo, there is a great step-by-step on the website. Registering is easy via Facebook connect, then select the topic that best suits your photo. Upload your photo, write a caption, give a little background about the pictory and press send. The process of submitting is the easy part. Finding a pictory as compelling as the photos featured on the website, now that is the hard part.

Pictory is unique in what it does, however, it is unclear what the next step is for the community. Will Brunow take the print approach and make it a fully fledged magazine? Alternatively, will she continue to build on the website and make it more like Deviant Art? However, the most pressing question is, why can’t I buy any of these marvelous photos?

I would like to hang every single photo from this collection on my wall.