Biography

To Whom it May Concern:

I have been told that I was born among the various seaweed on the Jersey Beach.

I began freediving as a boy, when diving was free. Spearfishing started soon after, as it did with so many of my peers at that time. I guess I've been at that well over forty years now.

I became familiar with SCUBA many years ago, but felt it unnecessary until I took up underwater photography in the mid-seventies. I still took most of my photos freediving locally, but SCUBA came in handy on trips to deep water. I have invented many goodies for spearfishing and photography, such as a camera gun platform on which I mount my Nikonos. I have won numerous awards for my stills, and have had many of them published over the years.

I am also a marine artist, specializing in marine life wood sculpture & watercolor paintings.

In 1993, I put time and motion to work. I took up underwater video. I have been similarly lucky with that medium.

Although I can't travel extensively, I have gotten around somewhat. I have made a number of trips to the Bahamas, and have enjoyed many of the shark dives that are featured there. I have seen: Turks and Caicos, Tobago, Cancun, Saba, and Cozumel, the Virgin Islands, Belize, and the Sea of Cortez (Loreto, La Paz, Cabo San Lucas). Then on to the eastern Pacific: Costa Rica, both mainland and Cocos Island.

While the above destinations all have their own magic, I still long for the SPECIAL magic of the Jersey shore.

Yours,

Art Nelson, 2000

art@realfish-underwater.com