The Sonian Forest, a nearly 11,000-acre historic woodland just outside of Brussels, is home to some of the most striking beech groves in the world. It's a familiar yet always enticing environment for photographer Frédéric Demeuse, who was born and raised in the capital of Belgium. He shared that this is where he made his first naturalist observations, pointing out birds, amphibians, and squirrels that captivated him as a boy.
Forgotten Places - A Visual Record of Vanishing Landscapes by Frédéric Demeuse
Demeuse's continuing series 'Forgotten Places' features dreamlike pictures that explore increasingly isolated and uncommon areas of nature. He records these places in order to produce a visual record of forests and landscapes that need to be carefully preserved for the sake of the local wildlife and flora, as well as for the sake of human health and mental well-being.
He says that people's relationship with nature has deteriorated by an astounding 60 percent over the last 200 years, putting everyone at risk for what University of Derby lecturer Miles Richardson refers to as an 'extinction of experience'.
Exploring beautiful environments and communing with green spaces helps Demeuse stay connected to the landscapes he traverses, while also encouraging a more intentional approach to relationships and daily life. His focus on essential and deceptively simple views of trees and plants serves as a way to inspire respect for the extraordinary complexity of the living world and remind us to stay humble.
Why Old-Growth Forests Hold a Primordial Call for Demeuse
While Demeuse finds value in returning to familiar locations to observe how they naturally transform and follow seasonal cycles, his work also takes him to landscapes across the globe. He believes that nothing reconnects a person more deeply to the wilderness than connecting oneself in a real forest. For him, standing among old-growth trees—silent witnesses to centuries of change yet seemingly untouched by time—offers a sense of perspective and continuity.
Regardless of the location, Demeuse’s intention remains consistent. He aims to evoke and preserve a primordial sense of wonder at the natural world. He often reflects that the outside world is always calling, its quiet insistence urging humans to notice, engage, and appreciate—an invitation he considers impossible to ignore.
More About the Photographer's Background
Frédéric Demeuse is a Belgian photographer, born in 1978 and based in Brussels, whose work focuses on the natural world. With a background in ethology and ornithology, he has spent years studying animals and ecosystems, which has given him a strong understanding of nature and how to observe it carefully. That knowledge has shaped the way he approaches photography, letting him capture landscapes with attention to detail and respect for the life within them.
In his series Forgotten Places, Demeuse has traveled to remote forests and wild areas around the world. He has visited cloud forests in Central America, temperate forests in Europe, and old-growth woodlands in Africa, documenting these areas in their untouched state. His photos show the patterns of trees, the texture of moss, the shifting light through leaves, and the quiet spaces that often go unnoticed.
Demeuse wants people to notice how important these spaces are, both for the plants and animals that live there and for humans who need them for calm, focus, and perspective. Each photograph is a record of a place that may be fragile and easily lost. By showing these forests and landscapes, he encourages viewers to pay attention to nature and consider the impact of human activity on these environments.
Photos by @fredericdemuse.
