L.T.E.

'L'indivisibilité du mouvement implique l'impossibilité de l'instant', Henri Bergson.

L.T.E. is a project which touches on the perception of time. L.T.E. stands for 'Long Time Exposure'.

I record time, let it live inside my images and observe its effect on the world. My technique stems from the early days of photography when snapshots did not yet exist.

When the traces of our movements become visible and our bodies disappear it becomes clear that we cannot beat time or - by consequence - death.

I use standard photographic techniques. All parameters but aperture are fixed. Because of the extreme exposure times, the reactions of the chemicals are somewhat unpredictable. Patience and surprise are two key words in my research.

I photograph different subjects: nature, cities, daily life and people.

Each photograph is accompanied by information about place, time and some technical parameters (EV= light value, f= focal distance, t= time of exposure).

L.T.E. is also a video project. Long time exposures are in principle impossible to realize with video. Luckily, my husband Francis Van Aeken, who doesn't care much about principles, has build custom software that allows me to apply long time exposures to moving images.

In photography the exposure time is predetermined but in video I set this parameter after the recording. The filter software has the same effect as a long time exposure in photography: everything momentary disappears.