Alpha Exposure

a close-up of a baby with diffusion filter

Alpha Exposure

n.
the otherworldly aura of seeing recordings of a friend in early childhood—catching those little gestures you’d one day come to know, so recognizable yet so foreign, searching their eyes for traces of who it is they’d eventually become.

From alpha, the unstable initial release of software still being tested + exposure, the amount of time that light is allowed onto photographic film.

Lap Year

several people racing bicycles uphill in a forest

Etterath

a graduation cap and gown on a chair

Spinning Playback Head

silhouette of a person looking out a window

Kerisl

piles of old books scattered in an abandoned room

Inerrata

a hand holding a broken cup

Solla, Solla, Solla

a hand reaching out for plant tendril

O’Erpine

a person looking at a grave

Cullaways

a lone sand castle on a beach at low tide

Backmasking

a woman's face with a double exposure

Present-Tense

a close-up of a stopwatch

Anchorage

a person's arm extended over river rapids

Affogatia

miscellaneous items on a table

Midsummer

a person standing in a garden holding a clock

Heart Of Aces

a person covering their eyes with their hands

Halfwise

a train coming towards the camera shot from the tracks

Fellchaser

a blurred shadow of a person in a dark room

Keta

a hand reaching through paper with a flower drawing

Nowlings

a pile of black and white puzzle pieces

Catoptric Tristesse

Cover image for the Catoptric Tristesse word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Mithenness

a person standing on the side of a road

The Wends

Cover image for the The Wends word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Deep Gut

Cover image for the Deep Gut word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Lisolia

a bookcase containing objects

Dystoria

close up of water drops on a window

Winnewaw

a person wearing a party hat

Endzoned

Cover image for the Endzoned word card on the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

Elosy

a blurry image of a person in a subway car