Think about the first time you picked up an underwater camera — what was the initial reason? Maybe you wanted a way to record your dives or a mechanism to show your nondiver friends and family the beauty of the underwater world. Perhaps you were a topside photographer hoping to expand your horizons or an experienced diver looking to add a new dimension to your diving.
Whatever the reason, once you entered the frustrating but undeniably addictive world of underwater photography, there’s a good chance that obsession took hold. It probably wasn’t long before diving without a camera became difficult for you to imagine.
Once you were fully indoctrinated, you may have pursued intensive workshops, exotic travel, photo competitions, or photo sales. It likely got expensive rather quickly. The bottom line is that underwater photography has such significant monetary and time commitments that most photographers, regardless of experience level, aren’t interested in creating images for charitable purposes.
That is where my head was as recently as 10 years ago, when I spent most of my underwater time pursuing either competition images or assignment work. At the beginning of 2016, however, I founded Dive into the Pink, a salary-free 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that harnesses the passion and enthusiasm of the dive community to fundraise for cancer research and patient support.
As a breast cancer survivor, I wanted to combine my love for scuba diving with my desire to raise funds for the fight against cancer, and I wanted to start a transparent initiative that would funnel the maximum amount of money toward that cause. Our initial goal was small: to run one or two California dive charters per year. Our antics on social media, however, quickly gained attention — which is easy to accomplish with boats full of pink-tutu-clad divers.
Within a few months we received several large donations from dive resorts and liveaboard companies, which led to us plan an online auction. Soon I began receiving invitations to run remote, photo-centric dive trips to raise money. Unfortunately, this plan was impossible due to my hectic day job and the personal travel I had already planned for the next few years. I resigned myself to keeping separate my nonprofit and my love for underwater photography.
That situation changed the following year when I ran into renowned photographer Mike Bartick, the longtime photo pro at Crystal Blue Resort in Anilao, Philippines, and he asked if I had considered running a bespoke photo competition. I laughed — of course I hadn’t. How does someone even get started running a photo competition? Despite my initial dismissal of the idea, it wouldn’t go away.
I started thinking about what entering a photo competition entailed — such as what specific steps photographers must take to submit an image. Although I was familiar with entering photo competitions, I definitely was not a website-building genius. I knew if I wanted to execute this plan, I would have to figure it out because we could not afford a website designer.
I reached out to my friends at Dive Photo Guide (DPG), with whom I had worked on an earlier photo series called “In Praise of Pink” that highlighted images containing pink captured by photographers I admired. When I asked if they would be interested in partnering on an underwater imaging competition that featured images that included the color pink, they enthusiastically accepted the challenge.
In late 2017, the first Think Pink competition launched. Bartick agreed to be one of our judges, Crystal Blue Resort generously sponsored our first-place prize, and we had additional sponsorship support from Kraken Sports and photographer Alex Mustard, PhD. Bartick and I used our own images to promote the contest and attract participants, although I was dubious that we would get much interest. Pink, after all, can be polarizing.
I was wrong. That first competition made more than $4,000 — admittedly small potatoes compared with the major underwater photo competitions, but pretty darned good for a small nonprofit and a single-category contest. Best of all, the first-place winner, a gray seal captured by gifted image-maker Nick More, was an attention-grabbing shot that helped bring recognition to our efforts.
As with most of our work, we split the money between a research laboratory — the Guise Laboratory, currently housed at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas — and a patient support effort — the Young Survival Coalition, a national organization supporting breast cancer patients under the age of 40.
DPG and I have jointly run six Think Pink imaging competitions since then, with continued support from Crystal Blue Resort, Kraken, and Mustard, usually featuring Bartick as a judge. We have been fortunate enough to add support from companies such as Lissenung Island Resort, Dive Damai, Backscatter Underwater Video and Photo, Sea and Sea, Ultralight Camera Solutions, Saga, and Scott “Gutsy” Tuason. We have raised nearly $20,000, all through submissions of images containing pink.
Each year we continue to receive spectacular, striking submissions and donations from passionate (and sometimes quite well-known) photographers, something that never ceases to warm my heart. On days that sometimes seem filled with monotonous meetings, nonstop responsibilities, and depressing news, I feel fortunate to have a firsthand glimpse into people’s benevolent and generous natures, a view that provides a repeated source of joy.
Best of all, the competition isn’t set in stone; we can customize things if we wish. The fifth annual Think Pink competition in 2024 was particularly poignant, as the California dive community had just lost Deanne King, a cherished local diver, talented underwater photographer, and a dear friend of mine. She had recently returned home from, coincidentally, Crystal Blue Resort when she was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor. Her disease progressed rapidly, and she passed away within months, shortly before we began taking entries.
When the entry period closed, I asked DPG managing editor IanBongso-Seldrup and our judges if we could select an additional winning photograph to celebrate Deanne’s sense of creativity (she absolutely loved to try new techniques and gear), and everyone wholeheartedly agreed. Rich Neely, the winner of this honorary category, had skillfully captured a common goby local to California, resulting in an unusual bokeh beauty with a pastel pink backdrop.
At the end of 2024, in addition to our usual recipients, we added a sizeable discretionary distribution to the UCLA Brain Cancer Research Fund in Deanne’s honor. I won’t deny that I teared up when I wrote the check.
Obviously, not every underwater photographer has the desire to take on a major project such as running an imaging competition, and I can’t blame them — the workload can be significant. But there are many ways to pursue altruistic activities with imagery, starting with simply raising awareness about marine environments and ocean life. This effort can be as simple as what many of us already do: sharing photographs with nondiver friends or on social media, an everyday activity that can be extremely powerful in terms of grassroots education.
Many underwater photo competitions pledge a portion of proceeds toward a charitable end. You could also consider donating an image or even an underwater portrait session to an organization you’re passionate about or perhaps volunteering your time to photograph a nonprofit event.
Other popular ways to give back include joining a scientific expedition as a photographer and agreeing to third-party use of images you capture while participating or signing up for a trip where some of the proceeds will be contributed to a meaningful cause.
Some of these ideas may seem controversial since every aspect of underwater photography is expensive, from the gear and diving to the travel and baggage fees. But if you come across a cause that feels personally significant, I urge you to see how you can support it with your photography. It will undoubtedly add another dimension to your passion, and I can also promise that the rewards will be greater than you can possibly imagine.
Note: All money received from this article will be donated to Dive into the Pink (diveintothepink.org). My deepest gratitude goes to the generous, award-winning photographers who have agreed to have their images published to support this piece.
© Alert Diver – Q3 2025