“The best city in the world.”

I’ll admit it — I’ve rolled my eyes in reaction to New Yorkers implying, or sometimes just directly stating, their city’s superiority over mine. But I think I was missing the point: Bravado is part of the package with this first class city.

New York encourages superlative work in nearly every medium. Bagel and pizza eaters say there’s something in the water, scientists theorize that Manhattan would have been the best national park in the country, and Pictory contributor Carla Drago suggested that the city’s strict grid is a component of its creative success. Surely a little confidence doesn’t hurt either.

This lucky thirteenth showcase, published on the six month anniversary of Pictory’s launch, seems an occasion to celebrate the concept of showing off. I’m proud to have NYC designer Nicholas Felton of Feltron Annual Report fame as my guest designer, and Josh Haner of the New York Times Lens Blog as my guest curator. But at the end of the day, the submissions — the beautiful, authentic, sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heart-stopping photo stories I’ve received from Pictory members over the last six months — are truly humbling.