Steven Lopez and Carmen Obied

Steven Lopez and Dr. Carmen Obied are award-winning underwater cinematographers, maritime archaeologists, and co-founders of Explorers Photography. They approach the ocean as a living archive, combining scientific methods with artistry and cinematic storytelling for ocean preservation and advocacy. Trained as scientific and technical divers
(AAUS, GUE, TDI), their work focuses on building visual records that connect ecosystems and show their change over time.
Carmen began her career diving on ancient shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. She holds a PhD in maritime archaeology, specializing in photogrammetry and geospatial mapping of ancient maritime cultural landscapes, trade routes and wreck sites across the Mediterranean, Levant, and Red Sea. This expanded into her underwater cinematography and creative storytelling work, documenting wildlife and climate-change across the Arctic, Antarctica, Amazon, and California’s kelp forests.
Steven began his career as an avid diver, passionate about artistic ocean photography and his local marine environment around Catalina Island. His interests gradually expanded into the evolution of maritime navigation which led him to studying at the University of Southampton and later MIT. Holding a MSc, Steven’s work now spans across ancient shipwreck sites, remote river systems, and polar waters, having dived and documented fragile underwater ecosystems, from the Amazon to the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
Their photography, cinematography, and research work have been featured through partnerships with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHMLA), Honor Frost Foundation (HFF), Blue Green Expeditions, University of Southampton, British Film Institute (BFI), and British Museum, along with awards and recognitions from Dive Photo Guide (DPG), San Diego UnderSea Film Exhibit (SDUFEX), DPG’s United Nations (UN) World Oceans Day, Shark Trust UK, and Backscatter. Their work has also been exhibited in various fine-art galleries in Los Angeles.