There’s something very off about these empty places. We can feel it in our bones. The hairs on the back of our necks are standing on end and our guts are telling us someone’s watching us, lurking in the shadows, just out of sight. Can you feel it too, Pandas? The eeriness? The tension? The low-key anxiety? We hope it’s not just us.
Liminal spaces exist as thresholds between one place and the next. They are the ‘in-between’ spaces like empty streets, waiting rooms, hallways, stairwells, parking lots, and airports that mark a transition between your starting point and your destination. Often, they make us feel uneasy. Unsettled. Even fearful. Especially when captured through the lens of a savvy photographer. Bored Panda has curated this list of exquisite, dreamlike, liminal weirdness to share with you how bizarre some parts of our world, near and far, really are when there’s nobody but us around.
Photographer Dominic Sberna, from the United States, was kind enough to answer Bored Panda’s questions about the role that lighting plays in setting the mood and tone of photos. Scroll down for the interview.
Are you ready to step across the threshold into the land where nightmares and reality mix like waves in a storm? Stay close, don’t wander off, don’t get lost, and let’s go explore. Oh, but if you do find your way back safe and sound, you might want to take a dive into our previous article about liminality right here.
#1 First Post Here, Does This Count? Clouds Over St Petersburg
Image source: G_DBarros
#2 Oregon Wildfires Making It Look Straight Apocalyptic
Image source: RavenRosie
#3 Hell
Image source: DejectedSoul
#4 Ethereal Playground. I Saw A Bunch Of Kids Playing In The Slides And They Were Barely Visible Through The Thick Fog, You Could Only Hear Their Laughter And Scurrying Footsteps
Image source: Annoyniket
#5 Oh No
Image source: reddit.com
#6 It Is A Portal
Image source: Aukrust
#7 The Pool I Work At Kind Of Creeps Me Out When We Turn Off The Lights At Close
Image source: cassidog
#8 3:15 AM
Image source: Living_Lock
#9 Harbor Glow
Image source: krugerlive
#10 You Are Waiting For A Train
Image source: daysofyore444
#11 Oh Yeah
Image source: Maecenass
#12 The Fog Makes The Funfair On The Meadows Seem A Little Creepy
Image source: docju
#13 Dystopian
Image source: green_left_hand
#14 Kolmanskop Ghost Town In Namibia
Image source: James_Sunder11
#15 No Power
Image source: ackeeandsaltfish
#16 Can You Hear The Buzzing?
Image source: Helpful_Broccoli
#17 Are You Sure You Can’t Hold It Until Morning?
Image source: bangbangbatarang
#18 The Sky Is Falling
Image source: emshlaf
#19 Very Liminal-Looking Indoor Pool Area At The Place I’m Staying For A Vacation
Image source: Psychological-Gap-87
#20 I Think I Found A Level Fun Entrance
Image source: xtra-big-frog
#21 Photo I Took Of A Quiet Street At Night
Image source: Maxsposure
#22 Beach Walk To Nowhere
Image source: interstellarpolice
#23 Marienplatz U-Bahn Station
Image source: reddit.com
#24 I Feel Like I Really Want To Be There
Image source: whiskeysplotches
#25 The Attic Of An Abandoned House I Visited
Image source: BadCharacter
#26 Day 926 Since The Pandemic Began
Image source: Coopscw
#27 I’ve Been Going For Days Now. It Smells Like Must And Old Bedding. I Think I’m On A Ship
Image source: JumboJimboJohnson
#28 My Girlfriend Works In A Bingo Hall And Sent Me This
Image source: snecko
#29 Market
Image source: KevlarYarmulke
#30 Carlsbad Caverns National Park Snack Bar
Image source: Salty_Douglass327
#31 Why Does It Have To End?
Image source: NicorXX
#32 My Town’s Library Is Under Construction, So They’re Using An Old Grocery Store As The Temporary Library
Image source: pooshins
#33 Took A Ferry Tonight
Image source: HyprTrash
#34 The 5AM Ferry From Seattle
Image source: currentlyinbiochem
#35 How Relaxing
Image source: Liminal Spaces
#36 Playground At Girlfriends’ Apartment Gives Off Weird Smell
Image source: ScotchtapeCabbage
#37 Local Town Hall
Image source: DrPl4typus
#38 I Smell Metal And Mold
Image source: 1kingtorulethem
#39 Permanently Closed
Image source: Exuv1a
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