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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 Salt on the Skin Photo of the Day
July 8, 2021

The Salt on the Skin

The air before dawn has a specific texture, like damp wool pressed against the back of the throat. It tastes of river silt and the metallic tang of cold iron. I remember waking up in a house near the water, where the floorboards were always slick with a fine, invisible mist that clung to the […]
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The Salt of Unfinished Games Photo of the Day
June 8, 2021

The Salt of Unfinished Games

The taste of dust on the tongue is the first thing I remember about being small. It was a dry, metallic grit that clung to the back of the throat after a long afternoon of running until the lungs burned. There was the smell of sun-baked earth, a sharp, toasted scent that rose from the […]
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The Rhythm of the Loom Photo of the Day
May 18, 2021

The Rhythm of the Loom

The smell of raw cotton always brings me back to the humid afternoons of my childhood, where the air felt thick enough to swallow. It is a dry, dusty scent, like earth waiting for rain, mixed with the sharp, metallic tang of a shuttle sliding across a wooden frame. My fingers still remember the rough, […]
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The Roughness of Being Photo of the Day
May 3, 2021

The Roughness of Being

I remember the sensation of dry moss against my fingertips, a texture so ancient it felt like touching the skin of the earth itself. There is a specific, frantic vibration in the small things that scurry through the undergrowth—a rhythmic scratching that echoes in the hollows of my chest. It is the feeling of a […]
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The Salt on the Skin Photo of the Day
April 25, 2021

The Salt on the Skin

The smell of damp earth after a long rain always brings me back to the feeling of wet wool against my neck. It is a heavy, grounding scent, one that settles deep into the lungs and forces the shoulders to drop. I remember sitting on a porch as a child, the air thick with the […]
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The Hum of Still Water Photo of the Day
April 22, 2021

The Hum of Still Water

The smell of damp earth after a long, humid day always brings me back to the feeling of velvet against my palms. It is a heavy, cool texture, like the underside of a river stone that has never seen the sun. When the air turns thick and the world goes quiet, I find myself listening […]
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The Silence of Cold Wool Photo of the Day
April 21, 2021

The Silence of Cold Wool

The air tastes of iron and sharp, clean nothingness. It is the kind of cold that settles deep into the marrow, a heavy, velvet weight that muffles the world until even the sound of your own pulse feels like an intrusion. I remember the sensation of wool against my neck—damp, thick, and smelling faintly of […]
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The Salt on the Skin Photo of the Day
April 7, 2021

The Salt on the Skin

The memory of summer is not a sight; it is the sting of salt drying on my shoulders and the sudden, sharp chill of water against overheated skin. I remember the way the air tasted—heavy with ozone and the metallic tang of wet concrete. There is a specific sound to a body breaking the surface […]
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The Rhythm of Unbound Breath Photo of the Day
April 7, 2021

The Rhythm of Unbound Breath

The smell of dry grass, crushed and sun-baked, clings to my skin long after the wind has passed. It is a sharp, sweet scent—the smell of earth that has never known a fence. I remember the feeling of running until my lungs burned, that specific, rhythmic thrumming of hooves against hard-packed soil that vibrates up […]
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The Ink of Time Photo of the Day
March 17, 2021

The Ink of Time

The smell of woodsmoke always pulls me back to the skin of my grandfather’s hands—rough, like dry parchment that has been folded too many times. There is a specific grit to age, a texture that feels like sand trapped in the creases of a palm. When I touch the skin of someone who has lived […]
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The Cold Edge of Knowing Photo of the Day
March 8, 2021

The Cold Edge of Knowing

The smell of rain on hot pavement always brings me back to the hallway of my childhood home. There was a tall, silver-backed glass that hung by the door, its surface cool enough to steal the heat from your fingertips if you pressed them against it. I remember the sensation of that chill—a sharp, metallic […]
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The Snap of Summer Photo of the Day
February 24, 2021

The Snap of Summer

The first bite of a crisp radish is a sound that travels straight to the back of the throat. It is a sharp, peppery snap, a sudden release of water that tastes like cold earth and morning dew. I remember the feeling of my fingers stained with the juice of a tomato, the skin yielding […]
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