Adventure Auntie: Yvette Oosthuizen
TEXT by Nicolene Olckers | Photos by Yvette Oosthuizen
“Hi! I’m Yvette—Aunty Vetty to the Twinadoes and known as @wildbluevetty on Instagram. I work in international nature documentaries and am a freediver exploring the beloved kelp forests where I live. I also capture underwater images, contributing however I can to conserving our natural world, especially my greatest love—the ocean. I hope these images inspire you to fall in love with it too!”
From creating music videos for world- renowned artists like Coldplay to photographing never-before captured marine life behavior, Yvette Oosthuizen brings a steady hand and (mostly!) a calm mind to her work in nature documentaries. Specializing in Line Producing and the often-challenging arena of securing filming permits, she’s played vital roles in acclaimed productions, including My Octopus Teacher, Penguin Town, and the BBC’s Blue Planet II series. To this day, she remains captivated by the natural world and especially by the mystery of South Africa's magical Kelp Forests.
Growing up in Pretoria, Yvette lived for the family’s annual road trips. “I didn’t realize it then, but those trips had a huge impact on me. Every December, we’d head to Palm Springs, a special place on the coast near East London. This meant huge ocean-based adventures for our family. The minute we arrived, my dog and I would jump out of our old El Camino and race straight for the beach,” she recalls fondly. Along with those experiences and her mom’s regular trips to beautiful wild places, which inspired a deep love for nature, the rest was history.
“Hi! I’m Yvette—Aunty Vetty to the Twinadoes and known as @wildbluevetty on Instagram. I work in international nature documentaries and am a freediver exploring the beloved kelp forests where I live. I also capture underwater images, contributing however I can to conserving our natural world, especially my greatest love—the ocean. I hope these images inspire you to fall in love with it too!”
From creating music videos for world- renowned artists like Coldplay to photographing never-before captured marine life behavior, Yvette Oosthuizen brings a steady hand and (mostly!) a calm mind to her work in nature documentaries. Specializing in Line Producing and the often-challenging arena of securing filming permits, she’s played vital roles in acclaimed productions, including My Octopus Teacher, Penguin Town, and the BBC’s Blue Planet II series. To this day, she remains captivated by the natural world and especially by the mystery of South Africa's magical Kelp Forests.
Growing up in Pretoria, Yvette lived for the family’s annual road trips. “I didn’t realize it then, but those trips had a huge impact on me. Every December, we’d head to Palm Springs, a special place on the coast near East London. This meant huge ocean-based adventures for our family. The minute we arrived, my dog and I would jump out of our old El Camino and race straight for the beach,” she recalls fondly. Along with those experiences and her mom’s regular trips to beautiful wild places, which inspired a deep love for nature, the rest was history.
After a two-year stint in the dreary grey of London, she knew three things for sure:
Living in Johannesburg, she would phone each filmmaker monthly, hoping for a chance. Eventually, her perseverance paid off. Yvette’s love of nature—and the foundation laid during her childhood—drove her into wildlife documentaries. After a severe knee injury ended her adventure racing days, she knew she was at another crossroads and made the bold decision to move to Cape Town.
“I started over again, calling filmmakers monthly and sending out my CV daily. That’s how I met the Foster brothers.”
Working with the Fosters, she contributed to Shark Man, featuring Michael Rutzen, a South African shark conservationist and filmmaker who is one of the few people in the world that can understand and respond to shark behaviour and body language whilst freediving in the ocean.
- She needed to return home.
- She wanted to pursue a career in film, having enjoyed a brief experience on a film project.
- She wanted to reconnect with nature, building on the love she’d nurtured since childhood.
Living in Johannesburg, she would phone each filmmaker monthly, hoping for a chance. Eventually, her perseverance paid off. Yvette’s love of nature—and the foundation laid during her childhood—drove her into wildlife documentaries. After a severe knee injury ended her adventure racing days, she knew she was at another crossroads and made the bold decision to move to Cape Town.
“I started over again, calling filmmakers monthly and sending out my CV daily. That’s how I met the Foster brothers.”
Working with the Fosters, she contributed to Shark Man, featuring Michael Rutzen, a South African shark conservationist and filmmaker who is one of the few people in the world that can understand and respond to shark behaviour and body language whilst freediving in the ocean.
Witnessing the decline in the natural world only deepened her passion for documentary filmmaking. “It’s a different picture now than it was a hundred years ago. The greatest grief in my life has been seeing the decline in our natural world. Being in wildlife documentaries felt like my own small way of making a difference,” she reflects.
Her journey into freediving began after seeing two freedivers emerge from the water, appearing almost magical. She and a friend took a freediving course and began exploring the coastlines. “I had done cold water diving with Craig Foster and have seen the kelp forests,” Yvette shares. Since then, she hasn’t stopped exploring the kelp forests and South Africa’s wild oceans.
Now, Yvette dives with a camera in hand, capturing the vibrant underwater landscapes. She’s known for her striking images of anemones and colourful reefs around Cape Point, False Bay, and the Atlantic seaboard.
“Through my images—something that doesn’t feel like work to me—I hope that people can say, ‘Wow, look at this world.’ Being part of a freediving community, I share my images within our freediving community, many of whom join me on dives. I’ve noticed a huge increase in freedivers and ocean enthusiasts. I think it’s partly because the great white sharks have largely disappeared here, but also the desire to see the kelp forests in person, creating a groundswell of interest and awareness about our oceans.”
Connect with Yvette
INSTAGRAM: @wildbluevetty
Her journey into freediving began after seeing two freedivers emerge from the water, appearing almost magical. She and a friend took a freediving course and began exploring the coastlines. “I had done cold water diving with Craig Foster and have seen the kelp forests,” Yvette shares. Since then, she hasn’t stopped exploring the kelp forests and South Africa’s wild oceans.
Now, Yvette dives with a camera in hand, capturing the vibrant underwater landscapes. She’s known for her striking images of anemones and colourful reefs around Cape Point, False Bay, and the Atlantic seaboard.
“Through my images—something that doesn’t feel like work to me—I hope that people can say, ‘Wow, look at this world.’ Being part of a freediving community, I share my images within our freediving community, many of whom join me on dives. I’ve noticed a huge increase in freedivers and ocean enthusiasts. I think it’s partly because the great white sharks have largely disappeared here, but also the desire to see the kelp forests in person, creating a groundswell of interest and awareness about our oceans.”
Connect with Yvette
INSTAGRAM: @wildbluevetty
Posted in Alert Diver Southern Africa, Underwater Conservation, Underwater Photography
Posted in Photography, Yvette Oosthuizen, Freediver
Posted in Photography, Yvette Oosthuizen, Freediver
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