Kacper Kowalski has been observing and photographing landscapes from aerial perspective for over 25 years. After becoming an architect and having worked in the profession for four years, he eventually decided to commit to flying and photography – his true passions. As a paraglider, a pilot of small aircrafts and a gyrocopter, Kacper would fly into the air with an engine strapped to his back to discover the world of forms, shapes, and patterns during lonely flights.
Altogether he spent over 5000 hours in the air. Constantly fighting with the natural forces: wind and air currents, when he photographs from 150m above the ground level, he finds himself in an almost med-itative state, when the nature and surroundings reveal not only abstract forms to him, but also seem to communicate with him with the language of symbols that appear on his photographs. The flight is for Kowalski not only a way to capture the world beneath but becomes a spiritual journey that reveals univer-sal truths about the relationship between man and nature, about the past and the present, and about one’s own personal truth and the way to get there.
He has received numerous awards, including the World Press Photo award (three times), the Picture of the Year International POYi award (six times), and dozens of others. His first book, Side Effects, was published in 2014, OVER was self-published in 2017, followed by Arché in 2021 and Event Horizon (1605 Collective) in 2023. His works have been exhibited several hundred times in group and solo exhibitions all over the world, and the books have won and have been nominated to the most prestigious prizes, including Les Prix du Livre at Rencontres d’Arles.