According to the internet, liminal spaces are empty or abandoned places that appear eerie and forlorn. as such, I’m often drawn to photograph them. Reddit has a whole community dedicated to liminal spaces but beware – the posts there are often of back rooms or empty shopping malls with no real liminal qualities. Which begs the question – what makes a truly liminal photograph? Consider this image of a building in Lossiemouth Harbour.

• It’s situated in a transitional space. It’s not a place to linger. It’s somewhere that people pass through on their way to somewhere else.
• There’s a sense of stillness. No people, no clutter. The image has an eerie feel.
• There’s an ambiguity to the space. Yes, the building is still used and occupied as a commercial unit, but it feels abandoned.
• The lighting is flat. No shadows, no bright sunlight, a muted grey sky.
• The colours are muted. Even the door colour, and the sign above the window, fade into the scene.
• In general, there’s an uncanny normality to the scene, there’s nothing wrong with it, and yet it feels somehow “off”.

Liminal photography is supremely difficult to do well. Reddit’s liminal community is full of boring photos which prove that. But occasionally, just occasionally, an empty space achieves that sense of unreality which elevates it into something more.