In years of using a drone to capture images of the valley’s ever-changing patterns, Gheorghe had never come across such a striking combination of colours and shapes. However, the vibrant designs are the result of heavy metals from mining seeping into the river.
Mining can lead to deforestation, habitat destruction, and ground and water pollution from chemicals used in extraction. Yet gold and copper are key components of computers, mobile phones and medical innovations – all of which are driving demand.
Romania
Gheorghe is a pharmacist but has always loved photography. His current project, Poisoned Beauty, is an artistic protest - a series of aerial photographs that tell the story of the village of Geămana in the Romania's Apuseni Mountains, which became an ecological disaster when it was turned into a tailings pond for waste from copper and gold processing.
Edson Vandeira's image of the burnt corpse of a yacare caiman exposes the devastating impact of the Brazilian Pantanal wetland fires.
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Aerial photo of poisoned Romanian village Highly Commended in the fifty-seventh Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
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Mesmerising blood-sucking mosquito Highly Commended in the Behaviour: Invertebrates category of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 57.
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