Beavers in the mist: Bas Breetveld and the Tao of wetland photography

Early morning, misty creeks beckon. The moment you step in the boat, you can feel it. Even on the gloomiest of days, spending time on the water does wonders. Nature soothes the senses and restores the spirit.

Finding solace in nature is a natural response. Especially for those with a deep-rooted need to be connected to the natural world. Dutch photographer Bas Breetveld made the Biesbosch — one of the last extensive areas of freshwater tidal wetlands in North-western Europe — his second home.

Self-taught, Bas Breetveld developed a reputation as a masterly, accessible landscape and wildlife photographer over the last 10 years. Along his photo journeys, he found pleasure in sharing his adventures and helping others developing their skills.

Zooming in

The beaver whisperer of the Netherlands — because of his skills and patience locating and observing these elusive, primarily nocturnal, semiaquatic animals. The second-largest rodent in the world, beavers have the capabilities to restore freshwater wetlands naturally and turn them into wonderful oases of life.

After spending time in Alaska with his wife Nancy and legendary Canadian naturalist Charlie Russell observing and photographing Grizzly bears in Katmai National Park, Bas realised his future was outdoors.

Totem animals

“The Biesbosch and the brown bear don’t seem to have much to do with each other. Yet bears roamed around here not so long ago, until the 11th century AD,” Bas wrote in his nature blog. Having experienced wild encounters first hand, he understood the importance of ecotourism to promote a better understanding of nature and started wildlife photography tours in this wetland area.

Kingfishers and beavers were his initial totem animals. Driven by a passion for technology and innovation, he developed new hides and equipment. As many tour companions expressed, the boat ride over the river and kayaking into the creeks, but also the quiet hours in photo hides waiting for the big moment, left unforgettable memories that gave life new depth and meaning.

Zooming out

Capturing the essence of what remains wild and free in the lowlands through intimate portraits, Bas was as much a photographer as an environmentalist and artist. In the past few years his work evolved and transcended wildlife photography, moving towards discovering the essence of the ever-changing play of light and water in these amazing landscapes.

According to his friend, acclaimed impressionistic photographer and Professor of Analytical Biosciences Jan van der Greef: “It is another way of observing and getting inspired by interconnectedness, by the harmony between the detail and the context”.

Bas found inspiration in the Zhuangzi, which is one of the foundational texts of Taoism. The Zhuangzi argues that because of humans’ advanced abilities, they have a tendency to create artificial realities and live in a self-created or cultural ‘bubble’, effectively removing themselves from seeing the whole reality of our environment.

A core concept in Taoism is the art of true seeing. One of the most difficult barriers to clearly seeing, according to Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zhou, is following preconceived ideas or practices.

Bas embraced the Taoist principle of wu-wei, which has been interpreted as not forcing things or not trying to make things happen. The Zhuangzi uses the analogy of artists who don’t rationalise but go with the flow, creating instinctively and spontaneously, becoming one with their process and path. This has profoundly influenced his later photography.

Gravitation towards the light

The nothingness that is everything. In the beginning there is intuition, only later we find the words. Instead of photographing the outside, Bas started capturing the inside — reflections of the inner self of the observer and the observed? Overcoming the boundaries and division of singularities including organisms and events.

Observing, open-minded, without pre-conceived ideas, capturing life’s essence as it unfolds with no schedule, just moments.

This path can hardly be defined or expressed in words. It can only be known or experienced and its principles can be followed and practiced.

Nature lets you be in this natural state of being. Bas took his boat companions on a journey through various states of mind, across a wetland jungle and through camera lenses, only to emerge and return as another human being at the end of the day. Closer to the core, even if just momentarily, but with an internalised experience one can always go back to.

This state of flow, of being completely immersed in a feeling of energised focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of creativity, brings happiness and growth.

Life itself cannot be captured, only experienced and embraced.

Zhuangzi viewed death as a natural process or transformation, where one only gives up one form of existence to assume another.

Beavers lost their whisperer Bas Breetveld on December 5th 2019.

His photos and thoughts remain an inspiration for anyone who wants to become one with The Way (Dào 道) by living in alignment with nature.