Side Effects

Long-Term Projects, second prize stories

January 27, 2010

54°15’24.24”N 18°56’47.80”E Kacper Kowalski is a pilot and a photographer. 'Side Effects' is a documentary project about the complex relationship between humans and nature. The photos were shot either from a paraglider or a gyroplane, some 150 meters above the ground, mainly in the area around Gdynia, in Poland, where Kowalski lives. In this work, Kowalski explores answers to questions that deeply interest him: What is the natural environment for humans? Is it an untouched, virgin landscape? Or is it a landscape that has changed, adapted to human needs? Kowalski sees his work as offering a graphic and sometimes abstract portrait of how civilization came into being. For Kowalski, the content of the photo is less important than the reactions, reflections, and ideas that arise when looking at it. He would like the project to be a starting point for discussion about what is good or bad, necessary or optional, in the relationship between humans and nature. The camera is never connected to a remote control, and Kowalski never uses a drone. He wants to be up there, camera in hand. And he flies alone. That means he doesn’t have to explain anything, or rely on another person’s spatial imagination. It means he can fly precisely. Side Effects is more a method of visual storytelling than a concrete set of pictures. It is an ongoing project that will continue to be modified.

Commissioned by: Panos Pictures

Photo Credit: Kacper Kowalski

Kacper Kowalski, born in 1977, both a pilot and a photographer, he takes unique control over each shot, capturing previously unseen natural environments and ordinarily inaccessible cityscapes. The results are unreal, almost graphic images, which reveal patterns, symmetries, and asymmetries created by humans and nature.

His aerial photographs have received numerous awards, including World Press Photo awards (2009, 2014), Picture of the Year International POYi awards (2012, 2014), NPPA Best of Photojournalism award (2013), and the Sony World Photography Award (2014).

His first photography book, Side Effects, was published in early 2014. He is represented by the Panos Pictures agency for editorials, his fine arts prints are available by Leica Gallery Warsaw. He lives and works in Gdynia, Poland.

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