Devin Swett (b. 1986, Hanover, NH) is a photographer based in Manchester, NH. His work often explores the interplay between humanity and the environment, using photography to document the ways people engage with nature. Trained in fine art photography at the New Hampshire Institute of Art, he primarily works with analog black and white film negatives, printing with handmade alternative techniques such as cyanotype and Van Dyke brown. However, The Call of the Forest series is a body of digital work he’s been working on for over a decade, embracing color to capture the years of shared experience among friends escaping society and forging temporary communities in the woods.
“In a world of schedules, screens, and expectations, we disappear into the woods. Out here, the rules shift. Instead of deadlines, we chase daylight. Instead of transactions, we trade effort—splitting wood, pitching tents, sharing food. This series is a document of years spent with the same friends, building temporary shelters and temporary societies.
Each trip is a return—not just to nature, but to something older, something instinctual. Firelight replaces fluorescent glare, laughter carries without walls. Here, survival is simple: shelter, heat, each other. In these images, I capture the way we leave one world to create another, if only for a weekend.”
