Most of us are under some form of restrictions to help reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. These include staying at home, and hence being unable to spend time exploring and documenting the world’s oceans and underwater places. I suspect that this is hard for many of us, but of course, it is the right course of action until the contagion is controlled.

So, may I suggest that we use our image and video libraries to celebrate our passion by sharing our images as widely as possible? Wetpixel’s Facebook group is an active vibrant community, with a large membership, so this may be a great venue to do so, and we will be cross-posting from the Facebook group onto the Wetpixel front page too. The Wetpixel forums are also a great venue, and as they can easily be searched and referenced, your imagery will have a more enduring impact. There are, of course, many other excellent venues and all I would ask is that we start sharing in the place of your choice!

On top of the pandemic, there is also a very real economic crisis. Many of us have traveled widely and enjoyed the wonderful opportunities offered by dive operations and underwater imaging businesses located in all corners of the globe. To help them please try to caption your imagery with where it was captured, and if possible, the resort or operation that you were diving with, along with shout outs to any other imaging-related businesses you support.

Lastly, I fervently hope the spread of the virus is controlled and that we will be able to return to “normal” life soon. I hope that our community stays as healthy as possible and that COVID-19’s effects are as limited as possible. Take care, stay healthy and I look forward to capturing images underwater with as many of you as possible soon.