Photos That Feel Like A Glitch In Reality
Exploring the calm, eerie world of liminal photography
The term liminal comes from the Latin word limen, which means “threshold.” It describes places that feel suspended between two states - not fully here, not fully gone. Think of an empty school corridor after hours, an airport gate late at night, a deserted shopping mall, or a quiet road fading into twilight.
These spaces are ordinary, yet something about them feels slightly off. What makes liminal places so compelling is that they sit between moments. They’re designed for movement, for people passing through. But when they’re empty, they seem frozen in time.
Without the usual noise and activity, the familiar becomes unfamiliar. Lighting feels harsher or softer than it should. Colors look muted. Shadows stretch longer. It’s not frightening exactly, but it can be unsettling in a way that’s hard to define.
At the same time, there’s a strange beauty in that stillness. These scenes invite you to pause. They trigger nostalgia, curiosity, sometimes even mild discomfort. You feel like you’ve walked into a memory rather than a physical place.
The Facebook page Liminal Photography has built a dedicated following around this atmosphere. By capturing empty transitional spaces at just the right moment, the page highlights how powerful absence can be. The images don’t rely on dramatic subjects. Instead, they focus on mood - on that quiet, suspended feeling of standing on the edge of something, just before or just after it happens.
Scroll through their collection, and it’s easy to feel as if you’ve stepped slightly out of sync with reality.
"I’m a real estate photographer. Sometimes I stumble upon 70-year-old time capsules. This one has stuck with me. "
Greta Todorsdon"The oldest part of my medieval village in Italia. I love liminal photography.Glad I found the group. I'm enjoying all of your photos."
Kay Cee"Not my usual walk home"
Jose A. Landaverde
"Last night in South Dakota"
Jocelyn Tellez
"About an hour before dusk, the forest suddenly turned this cold blue. No filter on these."
Marta Krysiak
"My front yard. No edits. Taken from my phone 20 minutes ago."
Jessica Glatz
"This is a vending machine at my work. Every time I see it at night I get this weirdly surreal feeling"
Victoria Deaton
"Just an endless tunnel underneath a worldwide crossroad"
Raymond Mok
"Photo my friend took a while ago"
Cuda Tri
"Old Logan Cemetery in Logan, Ohio"
Tyler S. Anderson
"The view from my son’s bed as I tuck him in for the night."
George Schizas
"Cul-de-sac in the woods. Lacey, WA."
Ian O'Gara
"Lone Live Oak - Oat Mountain Road, Chatsworth, California by me."
Nader Bish
"Foggy night at the dog park in Winnipeg,MB. Feb.12.26"
Amy Miller
"Valentine's Day in Albion,MI."
Andrew Tesdahl
"Hall of Doges, Davenport Hotel, Spokane WA, Built in 1890."
David Breneman
"This was an elevated corridor I came across today. Have a great day."
Nick Ayers
"Minutes to midnight."
Prajamudia R Dolfi
"Basilica di SS. Cosma e Damiano (Roma)"
Francesco Grammatico
"Felt like this belongs here. My apartment kitchen in Dayton, OH."
Lyndsi Doll
"A house I visited. Didn’t want to leave for some reason."
Colby Henderson
"Sopa de luna, Houston"
Taryn Tusing
"Silent, empty tunnel 9 floors beneath street level of London. Only completely silent place I found there."
Zoe Bell
"This is the inside of an Abandoned Chuck E Cheese from childhood. My elementary used to give us free tickets to go there."
Kaiden Hixon
"Park City Mall in Lancaster PA. This specific area has always felt very liminal and almost eerie to me"
Alice Paisley
"my great grandmother's house"
Daisy Lambdin
"Henniker, NH. Late night walk through town 🖤"
Amanda Rose
"Buffalo, NY"
Kimberly Marie Thompson
"A parking garage in downtown St Joseph Missouri"
Dreivayn Wera
"Taken just after sunrise. What does it make you think of?"
Sharon Netzley
"My drive to the store. Dahlonega GA"
Nicholas Cole
"Someone in another group recommended this one, glad they did! Here's an image I took last week."
Joe Irwin
"Just an endless tunnel underneath a worldwide crossroad."
Raymond Mok
"What lies beneath, Bridge in Jacksonville, Florida. 2012+-"
Jay Baum
"The night shift that never ends."
Aakaash Bali
"Taken at Fort Morgan in Alabama."
Eddie Nash
"Some warehouse in the 80's filled with hundreds of returned defective Teddy Ruxpin bears is rather spooky and sad"
Amber Panda
"Lonely Chinese restaurant in Bristol, Tennessee."
Kyle Campbell
"It’s raining at 3 am. Here is a picture looking down my street to the cul-de-sac. I liked it."
Tanner Tayrien
"The Big House at Malabar Farm in Lucas, Ohio"
Totes McGoatski
"Washington Township, NJ. Which sign would you obey?"
Matthew Domenico
"Somewhere deep in Ozarks…."
Mike Kozak
"Vinyl Lounge in Nashville, TN"
Alexis Wilson
"Foggy night on Main Street, Eureka, Kansas."
Taylor Hunt
"Downtown Ann Arbor, Michigan"
Adrian Allen
"Atlanta Omni"
Madison Thompson
"Meadow Grove, Nebraska, I drive by this every time I go into town. Of course, I had to stop eventually."
Ashley K Hale
"Come on through to the other side....."
Chris Davis
"Dragon City Mall, Calgary, Alberta"
Allison Chep
"Antique store I was in, their basement. Staunton VA."
Jane Sorensen Potts
"I regret too much, and remember too little."
Aakaash Bali
"My company bought a new building, and we haven’t moved in…pipes froze and the building flooded. My first time here, to let the gas company in…."
Tyler Howard
"So close, yet so far. CC"
Flyingg Dash
"Albion, MI"
Andrew Tesdahl
"Dusty"
Johnny Joo
"Parking garage at Kimbell Art Museum"
Shin Yang
"Hope I catch the last train of the night - Chicago, IL."
Estevan Mora
"Abandoned school in Butte, MT. Gave me some Wes Anderson vibes."
Julian Bunker
"I'm sad and high and walked all the way to the pier, I thought this looked alright, sorry."
Jun Griffin
"The air was so crisp and fresh in the downtown core."
Ashley Shaw
"On my way home from my overnight shift, stopped to check my phone out of the rain and sent this to my bf. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do."
Laney Schmitt
"Lewisburg, TN"
Arnie Arnoldson
Liminal spaces stay with you because they feel both close and distant at the same time. They are ordinary places caught in a quiet pause, waiting for life to return.
That stillness can feel uneasy, but it can also feel calm. Maybe that’s why we keep looking. In those empty hallways and silent roads, we recognize something familiar - and something we can’t fully explain.
