2014 Photo Contest, Nature, 2nd prize

toxic beauty

Photographer

Kacper Kowalski

Panos Pictures

16 June, 2013

Effluent from the Belchatów power station, the largest coal-fueled thermal plant in Europe, and one of the highest emitters of CO2 among power stations worldwide.

Views from the air reveal an impact of industry on the environment that is hard to see from the ground, as effluent leeches into the Polish landscape—coal ash (the waste that remains after coal is combusted, containing toxic heavy metals) from power stations, by-products of mining, emissions from chemical factories.

About the photographer

Kacper Kowalski

Kacper Kowalski, born in 1977, was supposed to be an architect. Yet five years of studies and four of designing were more than enough for him. In 2006, he eventually quit his job...

Technical information

Shutter Speed
1/500
Focal length
50.0 mm
F-Stop
8.0
ISO
400
Camera
Nikon D3X

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