Discovering a mystical and enchanted forest like Wistman’s Wood in Devon, England, is like finding a portal to a magical realm where anything is possible. This ancient forest, with its gnarled trees, moss-covered boulders, and misty ambiance, has captured the imaginations of visitors for thousands of years, inspiring legends about druids and supernatural beings. Photographer Neil Burnell’s images of this forest have drawn comparisons to Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, thanks to their cinematic quality and surreal beauty.
Burnell, a graphic designer with a passion for photography, first visited Wistman’s Wood on a family holiday when he was a child. The experience was so mesmerizing that he couldn’t forget the sight, and years later, he returned to capture the forest’s cinematic quality through his lens. Over the course of 2018, Burnell made 20 pilgrimages to the forest to photograph it under different light and weather conditions.
Getting the perfect shot was not an easy task for Burnell. He found that the most atmospheric light conditions occurred just before sunrise, during the “blue hour,” and had to arrive early in the morning in total darkness to get into position for his shot. He scrambled across the wet boulders with a flashlight and his camera gear, which he had to carry through parts of the wood on his hands and knees. “It’s quite treacherous—when you get a foggy day, the boulders can be very slippery. It’s a challenge getting through even without the camera gear. I had to almost crawl through parts of the wood,” Burnell explains.
Despite the difficulties, Burnell persevered, taking the photographs with a Nikon D810 and D850 and using an f/2.8 lens to keep the trees in the foreground in focus while allowing the background to recede mysteriously into the fog. The results of his hard work and perseverance paid off when he posted the final photographs on social media, and the reaction exceeded his wildest expectations.
Many viewers believed that Burnell had created the images digitally, while others commented that the photographs looked like they were taken underwater. Tolkien aficionados likened Wistman’s Wood to Fangorn Forest in The Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars fans echoed Burnell’s comparison to Dagobah. The photographs captured the forest’s cinematic quality so perfectly that many viewers were unable to distinguish it from an actual movie. “People are genuinely amazed that it’s a real place,” Burnell says.
In conclusion, Wistman’s Wood is a stunning example of nature’s beauty, and Neil Burnell’s photographs of this enchanted forest bring out its cinematic quality and surreal beauty. The forest’s history and legends, combined with Burnell’s vision and artistry, make for a magical experience that is truly out of this world.
