Eduard Admetlla i Lázaro

Eduard Admetlla i Lázaro (10 January 1924 – 8 October 2019) was a Spanish scuba diving pioneer, underwater cameraman and photographer, designer of underwater camera housings, designer of a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (scuba), tester of scuba diving gear for the Nemrod trade mark, writer, director of TV series, explorer and broadcaster.

Biography Admetlla was born in Barcelona (Spain) on 10 January 1924. In 1948 at the age of 24, he started scuba diving. Initially he was an underwater fisherman and became a member of the Asociación de Pesca Submarina de Barcelona (APS) in Barcelona. He soon abandoned this activity as he came to the conclusion that being armed was not the way to go underwater.

On 30 September 1957, at the Spanish naval base at Cartagena he beat the scuba diving world record by diving to .

He penned five books describing his underwater experiences: La llamada de las profundidades, Mis amigos los peces, ¡Fondo!, Tierras y profundidades and Mi aventura submarina.

As a follower of Hans Hass and Jacques Yves Cousteau's work, Admetlla i Lázar was a Spanish pioneer of underwater photography and filming. The first documentary TV series that he directed was Rumbo sur, filmed in black and white. After this experience he became professional and founded the film production company Volitans Films, S.L., which filmed the TV series: La llamada de las profundidades recorded in the Seychelles Islands; Nuestras islas, filmed in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands (Spain) and Tierras y profundidades in the Caribbean. All of these were broadcast by the Spanish television network RTVE. He also recorded the documentary television series La natura en profunditat for the Catalan Television network TV3.

Eduard Admetlla i Lázaro died on 8 October 2019 at the age of 95.

Books

Admetlla Lázaro, Eduard. La llamada de las profundidades. Editorial Juventud, 1957. Editions 1961, 1999, 2009 and 2010.

Admetlla Lázaro, Eduard. Mis amigos los peces. Bruguera, 1983. Revised by the author 2010. .

Admetlla Lázaro, Eduard. ¡Fondo! Plaza & Janes, 1976. , and (paperback)

Admetlla Lázaro, Eduard. Tierras y profundidades. Bruguera, 1983. .

Admetlla Lázaro, Eduard. Mi aventura submarina. Barcelona: Grijalbo, 1984. .

Television series Year Series title Colour Nº of chapters Filming location Television network 1964 Rumbo Sur Black and white 6 Miramar Studio RTVE 1975 La llamada de las profundidades Colour 6 Seychelles Islands RTVE 1977 Nuestras islas Colour 13 Balearic and Canary Islands (Spain) RTVE 1980-81 Tierras y profundidades Colour 13 Jungle of Venezuela, Orinoco delta and Caribbean sea RTVE 1983 La natura en profunditat Colour 13 Venezuela, Caribbean, Costa Brava (Spain) and Galapagos Islands TV3

Honours and awards Year Honour/ Award 1958 First Member with Merit of the Centre de Recuperació i de Investigacions Submarines (CRIS) 1958 Silver medal for Sporting Merit of the Delegación Nacional de Educación Física y Deportes (Nacional Sports Delegation)-SPAIN 1958 Medal for Sporting Merit of the Excma. Diputación Provincial de Barcelona (Barcelona Province Council) - SPAIN 1958 Honorary Member of the Societat Cultural Arca de Noé (Noah's Ark Cultural Society) of Barcelona (SPAIN) 1959 Medal and Diploma for Sporting Merit of the Federación Española de Actividades Subacuáticas (Spanish Scuba Diving Federation) 2007 Honorary Member of the Historical Diving Society Spain (HDSES) 2011 Honorary plaque of the Centro de Buceo de la Armada Española (Diving Centre of the Spanish Navy) 2015 First award for Buzo de Honor (honorary scuba diver) of the Historical Diving Society Spain (HDSES)