Standing Still Very Fast: @leondkrueger's Experimental Long Exposure Project

When the Covid19 pandemic hit, many people were confined to the same surroundings for a long time. Walking familiar roads over and over again, Leon Krueger grew tired of photographing the same things day after day.

Using long exposures, he strips his images down to some of photography’s basic elements. Losing interest in usual physical and tangible subjects, the German-based photographer found a whole new appeal in reducing his surroundings to simple lines, colors and contrast — marking the start of Standing Still Very Fast, a project that allowed him to regain control in a fast-paced world.

Welcome to the magazine, Leon! Please give a brief introduction about yourself.

Hi Lomography readers and team! My name is Leon and I am a photographer currently living and working in Munich and Berlin, Germany.

My work fields are mainly fashion, portrait, and documentary photography. Clients who are in need of a special look and for all of my own projects, I try to shoot film wherever I can. These personal projects are often fashion editorials or everyday life documentation, though I recently completed a documentary photo book that I hope to publish soon.

How did you get into film photography and how long have you been shooting?

Photography found me comparatively late in life, during my mid-twenties. However, I have always been the photographic archives of my circle of friends back in school. I was collecting all photos we took during school trips, shared vacations, afternoons at the lake, etc.

After graduating, I started to study fine arts — in a sculpture class mind you — but that wasn’t for me. During a house party, I made the slightly intoxicated decision to buy a Mamiya C3 TLR off eBay. And then, everything kind of fell into place. In 2019, I lived in Barcelona for a year – close to a Lomography shop, coincidentally. I started dropping off my film there and the addiction started to take hold.

After returning to Germany, I began studying photography and finally found exactly what I had been looking for. Now that I’ve completed my studies, photography is both my profession and my passion. Part of why I am able to keep the flame going is a lesson Irving Penn can teach every photographer: Always have side projects! Multiple ones, ideally. You don’t need to be working on them continuously – just hop in and create whenever you feel like it.

Tell us what Standing Still Very Fast is about. How did the idea to start this project come up?

Before I found my way into photography, I struggled with panic attacks. Oftentimes, this condition correlates to a feeling of not being in control of your own life. In 2019, photography started to help me regain that control a bit. Being able to capture my surroundings, sort prints on a tabletop or scans on my hard drive, was immensely helpful in overcoming my condition. You can make sense of a world that is spinning too fast around you, a world that is happening so much it can be overwhelming.

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, I started to take long walks, like so many other people. This side project developed as a kind of meditative practice during these wanderings. Since I kept walking the same roads over and over, the physical surroundings gradually lost their appeal to me. After a while, I was more interested in colors, contrast, gradients, and so on.

My photographer friends often make fun of me for buying loads of heavily expired and, sometimes, badly stored film. These rolls were stacking up in my freezer and I hadn’t found the perfect project to use them on yet. Until Standing Still Very Fast.

The main inspiration for this project was the seascapes of Hiroshi Sugimoto. His project consists of long exposure images of an ocean, the reflections of light, and different horizon lines and weather conditions. My first picture of the project was a direct homage to his work. I didn’t have a tripod back then, so I figured a spin would do just as well.

Are these images born out of intuition or do you typically plan ahead for each shot? Share a little bit about the technical process behind it.

It’s more intuitive than planned, absolutely. Although, after a while, you start to see in advance what you are looking for and are able to better visualize it beforehand. Most people know this process if they are shooting a lot of black and white film. Trial and error will gradually transition to you knowing what you’re gonna get.

The process itself is pretty simple but it took me a while to get it where I wanted it to be. The first ingredient obviously is a slow shutter speed. My Nikon F100 has a lot of increments available and thus I settled on 1/6th of a second. This provides the perfect amount of smoothness.

Some of the shots were taken on a snowy field mid-day. Another ingredient is a variable ND filter to get my exposure just right. It’s also interesting to underexpose some films heavily and boost up the shadows during scanning to introduce more color shifts.

Then, there's the expired film rolls. They provide grain structure, unexpected funky colors, and reduced sensitivity, which helps get the shutter speed in the ballpark I need.

Lastly, there’s the camera movement. This can vary heavily but for the most part, horizontal compositions work the best for me. I’m standing still and spinning around my own axis, faster or slower, depending on my shutter speed and the effect I want to achieve.

This series moves away from figurative subjects and focuses heavily on color, contrast, movement, etc. Is your focus primarily on achieving something visually striking using these elements, or is there a deeper intention behind the abstraction?

Standing Still Very Fast started as a side product. The main focus for me at the time was the experience of shooting it in itself. Trying to shake my mind loose from thinking about figurative images and subjects. COVID, for most people, was a tumultuous time. For me, it was perfect to sort myself, to piece myself back together. This project was a part of said process. Walking the same roads again and again, trying to see something new in them, making something different out of its pieces.

In the end, I found something that worked for me, even visually. After that realization, I had a lot of fun experimenting and finding even more joy in the process. I want to transport the calmness and meditative feel I had when shooting it and condense it in the pictures.

The paradox in the project title is intriguing. How did you come up with it, and what does it mean to you?

That’s a good question. I love playing with words and getting on my friend’s nerves with it. I’m always thinking about the next good pun to fire from the hip. The name seemed apt back then.

When I began, the project was about regaining control of a world that was spinning so fast. During COVID, time was flowing in very strange ways for a lot of people. When I take the pictures, I stand still and spin around an axis. The title is literal and figurative at the same time.

What role does expired film play in executing your vision for this project?

Expired film is a wonderful thing for an abstract project like this. When shooting actual subjects — people, landscapes, fashion, etc. — the expired film can mess up your images. It isn’t as sharp, getting the exposure right is tricky if you don’t know how it was stored, the color shifts can be weird and hard to correct for if it isn’t what you’re looking for.

Standing Still Very Fast is not concerned about accurate colors or depicting things like they appear to the eye. I can embrace the color shifts, the grain, all the quirks that come with expired material. It’s awesome!

Do you have a favorite image from this album? Tell us the story behind it.

This is my favorite picture so far. I took it while visiting family in Jordan, looking over the Dead Sea into the occupied West Bank where one-half of my family originates from. It puts a very personal spin (ha!) on the project and works quite well on an aesthetic level, too. It reminds me of a post-rock album cover, somehow. There’s the calmness to it that is present throughout the project but also a hidden tension.

What has been your biggest challenge in playing with long exposures so far?

I guess, that would be handling disappointment. Sometimes there are shots that you’re excited about that don’t turn out at all like you wanted them to. That can be a little bit of a let-down. But overall the project is very satisfying to work on. After all, it’s about shooting it as much as it is about seeing what becomes of it and the surprises along the way!

Are there any new experiments or ideas you’re excited to add to the project? What’s next for Standing Still Very Fast?

I actually haven’t shot for the project for quite a while. I need to pick it up again. There are numerous pictures I haven’t shared yet but I miss the process of it all.

I want to continue including locations with a personal connection, childhood memories for instance. On the technical level, I plan to start using cross-processing on some films. I’ve still got a treasure trove of expired slide film in my freezer, some Fujichrome 100D, Astia, Sensia, Kodak Ektachrome 64, and 64T. There’s a lot to be explored still!

So, be on the lookout for more images. I promise to keep sharing them!

Thanks to Leon for sharing this wonderful project with us! Follow him on his LomoHome to see more of his photography.

Have you experimented with any long exposure shots recently? Upload them to your LomoHome and share them with the community!

written by francinegaebriele on 2025-05-10 #people #experimental #long-exposure #abstract Share Article