Kelly Fitzgerald has captured the mystique and essence of the Hawaiian Islands, as only a local could.  Kelly spent several years in the 1980’s living on the island of Kauai, and in that time he got to know the heart and soul of an absolutely stunning and quiet place.  Twenty years later, he took on the challenge of documenting the paradise to which he was so fondly connected.  Fitzgerald’s reverence for the Hawaiian Islands is evident in his new body of work entitled “A New Discovery”, which the viewer experiences as a guided tour of a paradise and its natural wonders.

 

 

He began the project largely out of the desire to preserve a beauty still largely unhampered by commercial development.  “There is a timeless quality to Hawaii that is based on its close connection to the natural world,” says Fitzgerald.  “I respond to this and revel in it.  I also recognize that progress is encroaching and it will not last.  I am moved both by a love of this place and by a desire to preserve its memory.”

 

 

Fitzgerald wanted to reach beyond what the color photograph conveys, so he chose to document his works in black and white Kodak HIE Professional High-Speed Infrared Film to reveal the ethereal and magical quality each island holds.

 

 

He is aware that there is an irony in that his disappearing subjects were captured on a film that is no longer manufactured.  Fitzgerald says, “Unfortunately, Kodak discontinued this film in December of 2007.  I did not know at the time, but not only was I documenting the vanishing landscape of Hawaii, I was also using a film medium that was soon to disappear.”

 

 

A percentage of sales from this body of work will be donated to a Hawaii non-profit conservation organization.  “Being able to give back and contribute to a great cause is very important to me and I take a lot of pride in that,” says Fitzgerald.