Entry Title: " toxic beuty"
Name: Kacper Kowalski, Poland
Category: Professional, Abstract


Entry Description: Toxic Beauty shows the stains of human civilisation imprinted on the landscape. Sulfur plants; nitrogen plants; mines and power plants; landfill sites; toxic effluent leaching into the ground. From the high vantage point, restricted areas, surrounded by high fences and guarded around the clock, become revealed from the air. These images of severe pollution and environmental degradation on a grand scale give a more comprehensive view to environmental issues often hard to grasp from the ground.

Born in 1977, Kacper Kowalski graduated with a degree in architecture, and was attracted to photography through his other passion - paragliding. He is a champion pilot and licensed paragliding instructor. As a photographer Kowalski focuses on aerial photography, using the unusual perspective and control over the picture that being pilot and photographer simultaneously gives him. He covers nature, environmental issues, regional development and ecology, making documentary stories that portray natural and social changes. His chief interests are fine-art photographs showing the abstract character of nature and urban areas. Kowalski has received several honors, including World Press Photo2009, Grand Press Photo, National Geographic. He is represented by Panos Pictures.