Uli Kunz

The first encounter with the underwater world made a lasting impression on Uli Kunz: At the age of 8, the young boy fearlessly entered a freshwater lake in the southern part of Germany, where he grew up, only to leave seconds later screaming after a sudden appearance of a pike in muddy water… Uli still insists on the fish being at least 2 meters in length… but the fascination of that hidden world was too big to prevent him from trying it again! Aged 14, he certified as an open water diver and started his career… ever since, Uli did more than 1.000 dives all over the world, mostly in cold waters.

He studied marine biology in Kiel in the northern part of Germany and in Gothenburg in Sweden. He lives at the Baltic Sea, where the water is still cold and muddy, but much saltier compared to the quarries in South-Germany!

Having completed a special education to become a certified “Scientific Diver”, he carries out diverse research projects under water ever since. In the Arctic, Uli dove under thick pack ice; off the Canary Islands, he investigated Pilot whales and found the biggest (and most mysterious) mollusk, the giant squid Architeuthis; off the Orkney Islands, he collected small jellyfish from drop-offs in strong currents; in Mexico, Uli participated in two cave-diving expeditions, exploring “Xibalba”, the so-called underworld of the ancient Mayans, bringing to light human remains and pottery.

Uli is a professional underwater photographer, publishing pictures in national and international magazines. He is a specialist for dark places, where no sunlight ever enters. When Uli carries torches into underwater caves to illuminate submerged walls, chambers and stalagtites, he resembles a Christmas tree more than a diver. So he better stays behind the camera…

His presentation will take the audience to several research projects and show his work as an expedition photographer: From French and Mexican caves to Drop-Offs in Norway and Scotland.