Bas is born and raised in a village tabbed Best, in the southern part of The Netherlands. Living in a rural environment made that nature was his playground overly since he was a little boy. This made him a bit of an outsider in the family, love for nature was not instilled in him. When he was well-nigh ten years old, the mountain regions began to exert an enormous witchery on him. His desire to go to the mountains grew stronger every year. From the age of fourteen he began to read and collect books well-nigh mountain ranges. And now he has a library of approximately 500 books well-nigh all mountain areas in the world, which of undertow have all been read.

Norway fall 02 © Bas van Laarhoven

At the age of 18 he enjoyed his first trip to the Alps in Austria and was immediately wrapped by the sight of the mountains. During that first trip he brought a camera to shoot some holiday snaps. Since then photography has wilt a serious occupation, with which he earns part of his income, selling photos and offering workshops.

Inspiration

“When I’m thinking well-nigh what inspired me two things come to mind. First of all I’ve unchangingly been an outdoor kid and for some reason mountains have intrigued me from an early age on. Trough the years I’ve traveled into the mountains dozens of times, with photography rhadamanthine an increasingly important speciality of my journeys. Together with my wife and some friends, I visited Canada a couple of times to enjoy the overwhelming nature there. And we preferred to do that on foot and with a tent, to enjoy nature as intensely as possible. And every time a lot of equipment went with it. So my friend, who moreover enthusiastically photographed, and I each carried a walkabout of 27 kilos, which made the trips plane increasingly intense to us.

Gold undecorous stream © Bas van Laarhoven

While I was choosing the most trappy photos at home, I realized that for me photography twice a year during a holiday was not enough. And that led me to go out and well-nigh exploring my own firsthand environment. Through the years I have learned to enjoy nature tropical to home and have come to fathom my own natural environment to a unconfined extend.

Being passionate well-nigh nature and photography became life waffly at some point. Without completing my studies, I ended up working as a supplies technologist in the office, where I was involved in wringer and reporting. But as an outdoorsman, I became very unhappy at the office and ended up ill with mental problems. I then reverted undertow and threw myself into photography. I successfully completed a undertow at the photo seminar and I started inward competitions. And as I started winning awards and gaining some name recognition I was worldly-wise to make some of my income through photography. In addition, I have found a job that offers me the opportunity to be outside all day.”

Inspiring photographers

“Secondly there is of undertow inspiration from fellow photographers. Three of them I like to mention here. Marijn Heuts and Jowan Iven, for me two Dutch photographers from whom I can learn a lot and whose work I enjoy immensely. And of undertow Theo Bosboom. Theo’s work makes my mouth water. What strikes me most is the undercurrent in their photos, the intimacy of their landscapes, the focus on small parts of a landscape which tends to utopian images.

I myself like images of landscapes that have a unrepealable stratum of creativity and a stratum of wresting in them. I see myself as a landscape photographer but lean towards the art side of photography. For a landscape photographer I make relatively little use of a wide-angle lens, 70 to 80 percent of my photos are made with a longer lens. I think you have to discover what makes you happy and then you can explore that further. In recent years I started to lean towards increasingly graphic work, looking for interesting interplay of lines, images that touch on the abstract.”

Zig zag © Bas van Laarhoven

Preparation

“Sometimes I just go out to explore, to learn. During these searches I am amazed at how many variegated areas there are, plane in areas where I have been visiting for decades. Time and time again, visits to those areas yield new images. Areas that are familiar to me are therefore still a unconfined source of inspiration. And I consider myself lucky that I know how to find many such areas in a radius of 20 kilometers virtually my house.

But many times I go out very focused and let myself be guided by nature, knowing where to go. Circumstances then dictate which photo I go looking for. I know for instance which areas I want to visit in fog or frost. It is precisely the circumstances that determine whether the photo rises whilom the average. Stuff on holiday, for example, you cannot wait for a unrepealable circumstance to arise, due to lack of time. You then have to make the weightier with what is available.

As a photographer I mainly focus on landscapes and not so much on animals. When I photograph animals, they form part of the landscape. For me, an unprepossessing must add something to the image, it is never well-nigh the unprepossessing alone. I see a lot of photos of animals that I would typify as registration work, which is of undertow fine if it makes the photographer happy. But those close-up photos rarely really touch me.”

Foggy view © Bas van Laarhoven

Photographic style

“For me, the passion really comes from within. I am someone who likes to create something, stuff creative is important to me. I squint for new images and for a variegated way of looking at the world virtually me. In this I finger the kinship with my dad who, as a carpenter, was moreover someone who created things and moreover photographed.

To get the most out of my photography, I took a undertow at the Dutch Photo Seminar in my mid-thirties. It turned out that there was still a lot to be gained in the field of unstipulated photography techniques. This undertow has taught me a lot well-nigh composition, lighting and the difference between sharp and really sharp! Attending this undertow certainly strengthened the technical foundation of my photography. But technique still doesn’t predominate in my photography. And to be honest I think that there is certainly still room for resurgence at that aspect.”

Norway fall 01 © Bas van Laarhoven

Signature

“In recent years I increasingly hear people say: that is a real Bas van Laarhoven. It’s in the atmosphere, the composition, the way of looking at the world virtually me. During my workshops I often hear that I seem to squint with variegated eyes. Take for example the photo that earned me the highly commended at NPOTY. I was out with other photographers. Everyone was trying to get a close-up picture of the heron, while I saw the heron as a small object with some interesting light on it. I squint at an environment and search and see what is typical well-nigh it to me. Images that reinforce the feeling I get when I’m there. I want to share the intimacy I wits when I immerse myself in nature, resulting in what can be referred to as ‘intimate landscape photography’. Over the years, the way I squint at the world has reverted a lot. And I think it is precisely those developments in the way of looking that indulge a photographer to create his own style.”

Ambition

“With my photos I try to show what can be seen in nature and whilom all how special and artistically you can capture the ‘ordinary’. For me, nature is an inexhaustible source of inspiration. I can spend hours with a piece of tree bark, playing with the verisimilitude and the lines.

But the most important thing for me is that I enjoy it. My family requires the necessary attention, and photographing is an outlet for me to express my creative side and to get some fresh air. I’m practicing photography for myself, it helps me to find wastefulness and to well-spoken my head.

That’s why I’m so very grateful to my wife, who, plane with our taxing family, unchangingly leaves me room to take my camera outside and surrender myself to my pasion. And I’m moreover grateful to my parents who have unchangingly been proud of me and motivated me.”

Heart of Drenthe © Bas van Laarhoven

Photography contest

“Participating in major photo competitions such as Nature Photographer Of The Year is important to me. To start with, there is the feedback from the professional jury, which provides critiques that you can use as a photographer, it helps you to get better. And of undertow it strokes your ego when your photos win awards, but remember that there are a lot of good photographers out there. The Netherlands is once bursting with talent, let vacated what it is like at the major international competitions. Furthermore, it is a good way to generate a bit of awareness, your work is once then in the spotlight, which is of undertow moreover good for business. And finally but not least; it’s unchangingly nice to meet ‘old acquaintances’ in this relatively small world of nature photographers.

I would definitely recommend serious photographers to join in photo contests. It’s educational, the professional feedback on your photos helps you grow. Don’t get tumbled by it, but process the thwarting and use the criticism when you go out with your camera again. Study the jury beforehand, squint at the winnings photos in previous competitions with the same jury and alimony that in mind when you select your submissions. And don’t be discouraged if your photos aren’t selected. If you are convinced of your photo, then submit that photo to a competition with flipside jury. Alimony in mind that jury members are people too and, like photographers they have variegated preferences.

Grasses in woebegone and white © Bas van Laarhoven

It is important to be hair-trigger of yourself, the standard in photo competitions is nowadays very high. And remember that a photo has to be a really a photo and not an edit, the authenticity of the photo matters. There are strict rules well-nigh the permitted stratum of post-processing, the photo must be ‘real’. When the winning photos have been pre-selected, a number of finalists are unchangingly dropped due to editing outside the rules.

There is a difference between a photographer and a photo editor, which of undertow in the latter specimen does not detract from the sexiness of the image. In my specimen post-processing is a limited activity, for me it has to be washed-up in the field. But I know photographers such as Marijn Heuts and Jowan Iven, who are worldly-wise to get the most out of an image, without compromising the pure image. In that zone there is still something to proceeds for me.”

Colorful mosses © Bas van Laarhoven

Social Media

“I have a complicated relationship with social media platforms like IG and FB, kind of a love/hate relationship. I am very enlightened that I am not using the platforms unbearable to support my business. Plane my own website is not up to date, I’ rather spent my time taking and processing pictures. Fact it that I don’t like the surcharge on social media. For me it’s well-nigh the picture and not well-nigh the likes. I know that a kingfisher is a trappy bird, but try to picture the bird in an interesting way. I see too many kingfishers on a twig if you know what I mean.

But having said that, I am enlightened that I need to overcome my resistance to social media platforms, I really need to start working on that. Hopefully I will learn to turn the switch in the near future. Luckily my daughter has offered to help me with using social media and one thing is certain, she is so much increasingly experienced!”

At the end of the interview I asked Bas the question: “if you could ask flipside nature photographer one question, who would that be and which question would you ask?

It took Bas some time to answer: “Hello Theo, I would very much like to go to Iceland or a rugged coastal zone to practice landscapes and utopian photography in particular. What zone would you send me to, what time of year and why?”

Last storing tree © Bas van Laarhoven