Arturo Telle is a professional underwater photographer living in the Canary Islands, Spain. He is specialized in nature and underwater photography, and diving expeditions to selected destinations. His artistic style and unique illumination techniques separate him from other photographers worldwide, and often make it easy to recognize his pictures.

Arturo’s love for the underwater world began at the age of 8, when his grandfather took him snorkeling at the beach of Las Canteras, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, shortly after having moved there with his parents and brothers from his birthplace, Germany.

His first approach to underwater photography was when he built his first underwater housing for a camera by himself when he was 15 years old.

He enjoyed freediving (mainly spearfishing, sometimes photographing) for several years until 1996 when, at the age of 33, he started diving with full dive gear.

He immediately started taking part in underwater photography competitions and at his first opportunity got the classification for the national championship in 1997. That was the start of his successful career as a competition photographer, bringing him hundreds of prizes in local, national and international competitions, including gold medals at the CMAS World Championship.

He is the only photographer in Spain to remain for such a long time at the top of competition lists, and therefore one of the best known underwater photographers.

For some years he has concentrated more on the artistic aspect of UWP, with various collections of pictures that show a new and personal interpretation of the underwater world. The series “Water Planets”, “Beach Fun” and “Moonwalker” are just a few examples.

Arturo is diving instructor, Nitrox instructor, rebreather and technical diver. Expanding this last aspect is his target for 2017, making it possible for him to reach new places where many people have not been before. Also, as a destination for his diving trips, he tries to choose unknown places, away from the more touristic dive destinations.

His interest for marine biology, and vast knowledge of Atlantic fauna, has allowed him to discover a new species (actually new genus and new species) which has been named after him, Gnatophylleptum tellei, an extremely beautiful shrimp.

Arturo’s images have been published in many books, magazines and websites all over the world.

For over 4 years he has published a series of articles about underwater photography in the Spanish magazine “Buceadores”.

Besides Mares, Arturo is an international ambassador for a few of the world’s biggest brands related to underwater photography: Subal Underwater Housings, Subtronic strobes and iDiving lamps!

Arturo uses Mares’ Power Plana/X-Stream/Razor fins, Flexa wetsuit, Flexa Therm semidry suit, Carbon/Loop/Abyss/Instinct regulators, Hybrid BCD, Icon HD/Smart computers and X-Vision/Essence masks.