Álvaro Herrero is originally from Spain and has always had a fascination with nature in all of its forms. At the age of five, he was given his first pair of fins, mask, and snorkel by his grandfather and hasn’t looked back. Since then he has always had a deep connection with the sea.
He started experimenting with photography when he was eight years old using his father´s old camera. Alvaro has now been diving for more than 15 years and more than 11 as a professional diver. He has worked as a driving instructor, commercial diver, boat skipper, underwater photographer and trained as a technical diver with the JJ-CCR rebreather as Advanced Mixed Gas and full cave CCR diver with the Kiss Sidewinder. He has have worked as an underwater photographer in Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Maldives, Spain, Polynesia and Mexico in dive centres, resorts and liveaboards.
Álvaro Herrero has published photos in various journals including those of a scientific nature and collaborated with government environmental organisations, and featured in some magazines. He has been recognized in the prestigious GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition 2017, 2018 and 2020, 2021, Underwater Photographer of the Year 2021, Aspherico International photo contest 2021. He took his deepest picture at 110m in Indonesia and now is working in Mexico as a cave photographer.
Descending into ‘The blue Abyss‘ Pet Cemetery Cenote, Tulum, Mexico.
To give you an idea the last diver is around 55m and I was taking the picture from 8-12m. It´s a multi-stage dive and the deep divers were carrying trimix too. Imagine the training and the planning to make this shot happen.
Humpback calf Tonga
Dolphins Moorea, French Polynesia
Jellyfish Jellyfish Lake, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
Natterjack toads reproducing Madrid, Spain
Diver on Tunang Wall Lombok Strait, Indonesia
One of the pictures I´m extremely proud of. A lonely black coral at 105m on Tunang Wall, Lombok Strait, Indonesia. We were on our JJ-CCRs.
Humpback whales Moorea, French Polynesia
School of blacktip reef sharks La vallée Blanche, Tahiti, French Polynesia
Hairy squat lobster Panglao, The Philippines
This photo took me more than 40 minutes and three dives, until I had the perfect focus in the eyes and the rest of the body blurry. These critters are quite difficult to photograph as they hide in the sponge they live in.
Pygmy seahorse Panglao, Philippines
I used a lightbox as a backlight to achieve the white background.
Grey whale Puerto Chale, Baja California, Mexico
People are not allowed to swim with the whales in the water, but the whales approach the boats and love to make eye contact and scratch themselves with the boats. I took this picture putting the camera in the water from the boat.
Hawksbill turtle Gili Trawangan, Indonesia
Sea lion La Paz, Baja California, Mexico
Probably the most fun I’ve ever had on a dive. We spent 80 minutes with these puppies and this specific one took a particular interest in my camera dome’.
Eagle rays Moorea, French Polynesia
Green turtle Moorea, French Polynesia
Clownfish Panglao, The Philippines
Perhaps one of my favourite pictures ever. I literally tried hundreds of times to photograph those fish around Asia but never had them before looking into the lens like this.
Bobtail squid Dauin, Negros, Philippines
Find Alvaro on his Instagram @mekanphotography or on his website
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