The sky above the heads at Whangamata turns a vivid shade of pink in vibrant evening light.
(465 sec long exposure, June 2012)
Shifting Landscapes
Visual Art and Photography by Al Keddie — Abstract Painting, Digital Art, ICM, Landscape, and Urban Street Works from Scotland and Aotearoa New Zealand
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Vibrant evening light above the heads at Whangamata on Coromandel Peninsula, Aotearoa New Zealand -
The rocky heads sit on the horizon at Whangamata on the Coromandel Peninsula, Aotearoa New Zealand Stars begin their spin into a blue, pastel twilight over the sea and heads at Whangamata on the Coromandel Peninsula. (478 sec long exposure, June 2012)
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Stone Circle, Callanish
Isle of Lewis
Outer Hebrides, Scotland (2007)Late sun lights the ancient stone circle at Callanish on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides of Scotland (September 2007)
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Heavily textured, abstract black-and-white landscape with line of low trees I’ve always been fascinated by long-exposure photography and the surreal, transcendent qualities it captures across time. This landscape is from a series shot a few years back when I began seriously exploring intentional camera movement. ICM blends long-exposure with motion to produce abstract and impressionistic photography full of unintentional, but intriguing surprise.
Increasingly, demands on time led me to transition from static long-exposure to a more flexible approach to everyday landscapes. There’s a freedom to ditching the tripod and taking long-exposures while walking. Making these photographs opened a door and transformed my daily commute into a new arena for creative play.
These days, the big camera usually stays home and I’m mostly shooting (and processing) on phone. But I’m still developing work from this time and love the film-like smoothness and depths in comparison to the phone. Both have their advantages, and the phone rules for speed, apps and mobility. But the big camera* still kicks ass in terms of image quality.
*The big camera’s are Canon SLR’s 5d, 5dMKII, 400d & 1000d
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City By The Sea (or, Sparkling Orange Fever-Dream in Condominium Desert Heat) (2025) I often find it easier to talk about my practice of making art rather than individual pieces. In part, that’s down to an intent to avoid arbitrary interpretations and leave things open to meanings and moods emergence while creating. This often happens at different rates and these wee paintings tend develop at their own pace and in their own time, often making it difficult to know when they’re done. Funnily enough, that decision seems to coalesce around the emergence of a title in mind. A title which itself often undergoes multiple revisions in a kind of poetic word salad to bounce meaning and context around. Here, with ‘City By The Sea, Or Sparkling Orange Fever-Dream in Condominium Desert Heat’ the artwork conjures some reference to the plans being drawn for the theft and criminal possession of Gaza.
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Heavily textured and abstract, black and white landscape with tree, movement and lens flares Another painterly long-exposure landscape from a recent series shot with iPhone and magnifying lens in constant motion to produce a dark and highly textured impression of a tree viewed somehow from the underworld.