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A couple of years ago, a trio of incredible—and incredibly heart-wrenching—photos took first place in the environmental category, “No Time to Waste,” of the UN World Oceans Day Photo Competition, hosted by DPG. Those images of an entangled humpback remain, in my view, among the most arresting underwater photos demonstrating the terrible cost of humanity’s impact on the oceans. I hoped that one day I’d be able to meet the photographer, Álvaro Herrero, aka Mekan, and congratulate him on those striking pictures—and on contributing so powerfully to the conversation about marine protection.

As it turned out, when I finally had the pleasure of meeting Mekan at ADEX earlier this year, I was congratulating him on another amazing achievement: being crowned Underwater Photographer of the Year 2025—this time with a heart-warming shot of a healthy humpback mom and her calf. Mekan isn’t just a lovely guy, modest about his accomplishments; he’s also incredibly passionate and ready to share with anyone who shares his passion. No wonder, then, that this talented Spaniard is the perfect person to be joining Nicolas Remy in the next Underwater Club Masterclass event to talk about “Making a Career in Underwater Photography.”

This promises to be another unmissable two-hour webinar. As well as chatting about some of his most spectacular underwater images, Mekan will be sharing how he has managed to turn his passion into a full-time job. In particular, he’ll be discussing the income streams that make that possible, including leading trips, teaching photo courses, selling prints, and doing photo shoots for clients. Appropriately, Mekan will also cover how to make the most of wins in photo competitions and using social media to support your work. As usual, during the live Q&A portion, participants will get the chance to ask questions. It’s sure to be an extremely inspiring session.

As always, TUC members join for free, while non-members will need to purchase tickets to the event at AU$49 (approx. US$35). Note that this is also the price of monthly membership, so this is the perfect opportunity to join the club and take advantage of all of the membership benefits.

Here are the event times:

• July 20th, 4pm Los Angeles time (PDT)
• July 20th, 6pm Dallas time (CDT)
• July 20th, 7pm Miami time (EDT)
• July 20th, 12am (midnight) London time (GMT)
• July 21st, 7am Singapore time (SGT)
• July 21st, 9am Sydney time (AEST)
• July 21st, 11am Auckland time (NZST)