Liminal Spaces

 

LIMINAL SPACE (AESTHETIC)

"Liminal Spaces are empty or abandoned places that appear eerie, forlorn, and often surreal. Liminal Spaces are commonly places of transition, pertaining to the concept of liminality."

Each day I've been shooting a minimum of four photos in black and white. It's been my own personal challenge to see what I can come up with but mostly an excuse to go out and use my camera. I've mentioned on social media that 2022 and 2023 are probably the least amount of photography work that I've done in years.

I feel like this is something that a lot of photographers struggle with at some point. You get bored of the area that you live in, thinking you've documented every square inch of it. And every "viral" photo appears to be in some far off exotic location. So you stop taking photos in your back yard and you wait. You wait and you plan trips that never quite happen or wait for weather patterns (fog!) that never really appear. And before long you've barely used any of your equipment and haven't taken any photos worthwhile.

With this black and white challenge I've been pushing myself to look at the ordinary and see if I can make it extraordinary. Or at least visually interesting. When I go out to shoot I try not to go with any specific theme in mind but I couldn't help but notice that todays four photos are all very liminal space like.

Which fits with the town I live in. Just shy of 9,000 residents. Middle of the midwest. You reach a certain time of night and everything just feels dead. It reminds me of a story from years ago; I was out taking photographs in the cemetery, this had to have been 2008-ish because I was still using an old Sony point and shoot camera. I was out way too late and was walking home at a little past midnight. Completely dead in the entire town. No cars. No real noises. Not much of anything going on this late at night. As I was walking I looked over and this lady was standing in a bathrobe on her front lawn. She had three small dogs each on leashes that she was holding onto. And the strangest part was vintage looking curlers in her hair. I swear to you they looked like something out of the 1950's.

It was the creepiest damn thing you've ever seen and looked like something right out of a John Carpenter film. Had I been thinking I would have snapped a photograph of her. It's one of those mental images that's always stuck with me.

Maybe one day I'll recreate it. Just to spook everyone else out.