Art

Au Naturel

Award-winning, Spanish-born picture-maker Álvaro Herrero, aka Mekan, celebrates the beauty of nature and our connection to it.

Published

3 weeks ago

April 2, 2025

InDEPTH

Images & text by Álvaro Herrero aka Mekan. Lead image: The Portal— a metaphor for two worlds; the surface and underwater. The picture, which is rotated (the original is vertical ) depicts freediving instructor, Fernanda Morales (Mexico) at the surface of a cenote meeting the sun light as it enters through an opening in the ceiling. The image won the Red Bull Photo Illume in 2023 for Innovation.

My goal has always been to show the world what not everyone is fortunate enough to see—the beauty of nature and how essential it is for our well-being and survival. Given the challenges we face in coexisting with our planet, I believe that in a few years, many of the species and places we can see today will disappear. I truly hope we do not reach that point. My intention is to capture and share these images in hopes of inspiring change and protecting our environment.

For me, diving has always been a means and not an end. It has been a way to remain in contact with nature, with adventure, to access places that not many can reach, and to document them. Being in touch with nature is my happy place; I feel a deep connection with Mother Earth, especially with water. I believe we need this to achieve complete harmony with ourselves.

Whales are one of my favorite animals to photograph, but something that few people know is that my truly favorite subject to photograph is actually amphibians. I have always been fascinated by these semi-aquatic, semi-terrestrial creatures, and how they are connected to evolution. It is my dream to capture the life between the two worlds.

The challenges of shooting wildlife? First, finding these places is becoming increasingly difficult, as many are overcrowded, damaged, or corrupted. Secondly, patience and understanding of animal behavior is required. Knowing how to read their behavior, their mood, and their trajectories is something I have wanted to learn to interpret since I was little.

My intention has always been to remain as true to reality as possible, or to what I perceive as reality, in the most natural way possible.

I believe that overcoming the ego of wanting to take the photo while respecting wildlife above photography has been quite a conflict; however,I continue to work on it, and although I believe I’m respectful, I am struggling to find the fairest way to resolve this conflict. Today, this dilemma is becoming even more of a significant problem, one I consider myself to be partially guilty of. Many people travel to wildlife sanctuaries just to add to their collection a photo of themselves next to a whale, and, in my opinion (and I emphasize that this is my interpretation) that act reflects an attitude that shows these animals don’t matter to them.

I started taking photos with my father’s camera when I was young. He always took me to the forest because I loved searching for all kinds of animals near the river—lizards, frogs, crabs, birds, small mammals. When I turned 12, he bought me a Nikon F70 film camera as a gift, instead of a video game console like the ones my friends and cousins had.

I started diving in 2006, when I was working at an aquarium with fish from the Amazon and cichlids from Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika. My boss was sure that I would love diving, and convinced me to take a diving course. The first thing I thought when I jumped off the boat, and saw the underwater world filled with bright, neon blue juvenile chromis was, This is what I want to do for the rest of my life!

I decided years ago that my main goal would be to spend as much time as possible with a camera in the water to learn to master underwater photography techniques as best as I could. Now I have more dives with a camera in hand than without it. I have completely automated and internalized the practice of taking a camera with me underwater

What attracted me to tech and cave diving? First adventure, and then, as I mentioned before, it allows me to access places that would otherwise be impossible to reach in order to document them.

Becoming aware of how we are destroying the planet has always pained me. In fact, I believe it has defined my personality for years; it is a wound that has remained open, though I have learned to have a broader perspective. Sometimes, I simply accept that we are an invasive species and that there is nothing we can do to stop this. However, I still believe that, as human beings, we are all good by nature and that we all carry kindness within us. So, I believe there is hope. Conservation lies in learning to need less to live, and feeling a deeper connection with nature and ourselves.

My advice for divers interested in photography? Buy a camera, no matter what it is, and start taking photos. Enjoy making them; don’t try to please others. Photograph what you truly want to show the world. And, as someone once told me, if you want to be an underwater photographer, just be one. Fight for it, believe in yourself, and you will succeed.

Álvaro Herrero, aka MEKAN

Born in Madrid Spain, 39-year old, Álvaro Herrero, aka Mekan, has had a deep connection with the ocean since his grandfather gifted him a mask at the age of five. By age eight, he began experimenting with photography using his father’s old camera. With over 5,000 dives in his 19 year career, he has worked as a diving instructor, commercial diver, dive equipment repair technician, boat skipper and underwater photographer, teaching courses and master classes worldwide. His technical training includes the JJ-CCR rebreather for depths of over 100m, as well as the Kiss Sidewinder and DPVs for cave diving.

Álvaro has worked around the world as an underwater photographer and has won awards in over 20 prestigious contests, including; Underwater Photographer of the Year 2025, Wildlife Photographer of the Year, Red Bull Photo Illume, and the Siena International Photo Awards, among others. In addition to photography, Álvaro leads his own ocean expeditions, guiding people to experience marine wildlife encounters while coaching them in underwater photography. With nearly 40k organic followers on Instagram, he is a recognized figure in the underwater photography scene worldwide.

Links:

www: MEKAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Instagram: Álvaro Herrero (@mekanphotography)

Facebook: Alvaro Herrero (Mekan)