The Forgotten Forests
“What’s the good of liberty if there is no free space on the map? »
Aldo Leopold
Only these forgotten places against which we have never declared war or with which we have decided to sign a peace pact can give rise to this extraordinary paradox of enigmatic disorder, great confusion, coupled with lasting calm, of a prodigious serenity: the feeling that here everything is in its place.
As a city dweller with an idealistic and contemplative vision of nature, deeply influenced by indigenous tribes as well as modern pioneers such as Henry David Thoreau, Edward Abbey, Rick Bass and François Terrasson, these “forgotten forests” fill my dreams, my heart and my soul.
To explore them with a camera mounted on a sturdy tripod is among the most powerful, meaningful and deeply meditative experiences I have had the privilege to experience.
Blending and immersing myself in these preserved and paradise places is like a journey through time, a return to a forgotten past along with by a journey towards an imaginary but nevertheless inexorable future, when the trees and the forest ecosystem, left to their free evolution, regain their rights over the human race…
This small selection aims to show the inestimable richness and immeasurable aesthetic beauty of natural and primary forests, all these places from which a high feeling of naturalness emerges. These images come from my explorations in our European continent as well as in the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest or in the cloud forests of Central America.
