Coal Swans

• Prize
  Silver in Editorial/Environmental
• Photographer
  Omar Marques
• Agency / Studio
  Getty Images
• Photo Date
  23-02-2021

White swans walk on a frozen lake as steam and smoke rises from the Belchatow Power Station in the background on February 23, 2021 in Rogowiec, Poland. The Belchatow coal-powered station, with an output of 5,472 megawatts, is the world's largest lignite coal-fired power station. The station emits approximately 30 million tones of CO2 per year. The central eastern European country has the EU’s worst air, according to a report published by the European Environment Agency (EEA).

Omar Marques is a Portuguese awarded freelance photojournalist from northwest Portugal based in Krakow, Poland. He works as a stringer for Getty Images, Anadolu Agency and collaborates with magazines on editorial and commercial assignments between Central/Eastern Europe and the Balkans. In addition to providing news coverage around Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, he works on personal long-term projects. Omar’s photographs have been published in The Times, The New York Times, Stern Magazine, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, The Guardian, Paris Match among many others.