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Contributing Writer Sensory Memory & Embodied Experience

Priya Kapoor

Priya Kapoor has contributed to Light & Composition since 2010. Her Reflections approach photography through the body rather than the mind — opening with something tasted, smelled, or touched before arriving at the image itself. Priya writes about memory as it lives in the hands and the throat, not the intellect. Her pieces have a physical texture that readers describe as something closer to sensation than to reading.

1,125 Published Reflections

Reflections by Priya Kapoor

Showing 12 of 1,125 essays
The Weight of Gold Photo of the Day
October 20, 2011

The Weight of Gold

The smell of late summer is heavy, like crushed stems and earth that has been baked by the sun until it turns to dust. I remember walking through fields where the stalks were taller than my head, their rough, hairy surfaces scraping against my palms. There is a specific friction to a sunflower—a coarse, living […]
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The Salt on My Skin Photo of the Day
October 20, 2011

The Salt on My Skin

The smell of the ocean is never just water; it is the scent of cold, wet stone and the sharp, metallic tang of salt drying on skin. I remember sitting on a jagged ledge as a child, the grit of sand pressing into my palms, feeling the vibration of the tide deep in my marrow. […]
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The Pulse of Damp Earth Photo of the Day
October 17, 2011

The Pulse of Damp Earth

The smell of rain on hot asphalt is a sharp, metallic sting, but the smell of a garden after a long, humid afternoon is something else entirely. It is the scent of wet moss and decaying leaves, a thick, green sweetness that clings to the back of the throat. I remember kneeling in the dirt […]
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Velvet Held in Breath Photo of the Day
October 16, 2011

Velvet Held in Breath

The air near the water always tastes of damp stone and the slow, sweet rot of fallen leaves. I remember pressing my face into the cool, waxy skin of a petal when I was small, the surface yielding like silk against my cheek. It is a strange, quiet friction—the way a flower feels against the […]
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Velvet Beneath the Breath Photo of the Day
October 15, 2011

Velvet Beneath the Breath

The smell of damp earth after a summer rain always brings me back to the feeling of velvet against my cheek. It is a heavy, humid scent, thick enough to taste, like moss pressed against the tongue. When I was small, I used to bury my face into the soft, cool centers of flowers, ignoring […]
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The Salt of the Current Photo of the Day
October 14, 2011

The Salt of the Current

The smell of river water is never just water. It is the scent of wet silt, of rusted iron, and the heavy, metallic tang of a thousand lives pressing against one another in the dark. I remember the feeling of a wooden railing beneath my palms—damp, splintered, and vibrating with the low, rhythmic thrum of […]
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The Velvet Underneath Photo of the Day
October 14, 2011

The Velvet Underneath

The smell of damp earth after a sudden monsoon downpour always brings me back to the garden floor. If you press your cheek against the soil, you can feel the cool, gritty pulse of the world beneath your skin. There is a specific, waxy texture to the underside of a leaf—a hidden velvet that only […]
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The Weight of Woven Shadows Photo of the Day
October 14, 2011

The Weight of Woven Shadows

The smell of dry earth and sun-baked stone always brings me back to the feeling of grit beneath my fingernails. It is a coarse, honest texture, the kind that clings to your skin long after the day has folded into evening. I remember the sensation of rough fibers against my palms—the stiff, unyielding resistance of […]
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The Breath of Winter Photo of the Day
October 8, 2011

The Breath of Winter

The air in mid-winter has a sharp, metallic edge that catches in the back of the throat, tasting faintly of iron and frozen pine needles. When the cold is this absolute, it stops being a temperature and becomes a physical weight, pressing against the skin like a heavy wool blanket that has been left out […]
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The Roughness of Morning Photo of the Day
October 8, 2011

The Roughness of Morning

The smell of damp earth always brings me back to the feeling of coarse bark against my palms. I remember the way the air tasted—sharp, metallic, and thick with the scent of dew-heavy leaves—before the sun had fully climbed the horizon. There is a specific, frantic rhythm to the morning, a twitching energy that lives […]
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The Salt of Stillness Photo of the Day
October 4, 2011

The Salt of Stillness

The smell of cold water hitting stone is a sharp, metallic scent that clings to the back of the throat. It reminds me of the time I pressed my palms against a frozen windowpane, the glass biting into my skin with a slow, numbing ache. There is a specific texture to silence when it is […]
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The Weight of a Gaze Photo of the Day
October 3, 2011

The Weight of a Gaze

The smell of damp earth after a long drought is a heavy, velvet thing. It clings to the back of the throat, tasting of minerals and ancient, sleeping roots. I remember standing in a clearing once, perfectly still, feeling the coarse hair of tall grass brush against my ankles. There was a sudden, sharp silence—the […]
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