On June 18, 2026, the National Geographic Museum of Exploration officially opened its doors in Washington, D.C.
Among many other stories, the museum tells a whole collection of underwater adventures—from Robert Ballard’s discovery of the Titanic to today’s cutting-edge ocean exploration.
The opening ceremony was led by National Geographic Society CEO Jill Tiefenthaler, who officially cut the ribbon.
Alongside remarkable artifacts—including the Rolex Deepsea watch worn by James Cameron during his expeditions to both the Titanic and the bottom of the Mariana Trench—visitors can also see a DUI TLS 350 dry suit belonging to National Geographic Explorer Bogdana Vashchenko.
The United Nations has chosen Viktor Lyagushkin’s photograph “Martians and a Spaceship” as the cover photo for its 2025 Photo Competition for UN World Oceans Day.
The Photo Competition for UN World Oceans Day is an annual event that is free and open to the public. It offers photographers a unique opportunity to showcase the vast beauty of the ocean and highlight the promising potential that lies beneath its waves.
This year’s competition harnesses the power of the arts to broaden our perspectives and deepen our appreciation for our blue planet, inspiring action toward essential change.
The following four categories are now open for submissions:
1. Wonder: Sustaining What Sustains Us
2. Big and Small Underwater Faces
3. Underwater Seascapes
4. Above Water Seascapes
Winners will be announced on June 8th, UN World Oceans Day, which this year is celebrated in Nice. The event is hosted by the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea in partnership with Oceanic Global, and the results will be published on DPG (https://www.divephotoguide.com/) shortly afterward.
For more details about submissions, including category descriptions, contest rules, judges, and more, please click here.
The competition is coordinated by the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, DPG, Oceanic Global, the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO, and Nausicaá.
A great article in the online magazine DivePhotoGuide.com about our leader photographer Viktor Lyagushkin and “his own special corner of the Arctic Ocean, Russia’s White Sea”. The article can be read at the link here
Two huge materials at once: about the world’s first art gallery under the ice, which opened on the White Sea on the basis of the touristic center “Arctic Circle” within the framework of our team’s project “Until the ice melts”.
And a second one is a long article about how the shooting for our project “White Sea Bestiary” took place: about creativity, mysticism and photography in the article by Bogdana Vashchenko for those who know German.
The goal of the “Until the Ice Melts” project, led by our Phototeam.pro team headed by photographer Viktor Lyagushkin, is to draw attention to the problem of climate change and the melting of the Arctic.
Here we have another recognition of the importance of the project: one more publication abroad, in the German magazine GEO Saison for October 2021, a note on the world’s first under-ice gallery “Until the Ice Melts”.
A personal exhibition by Viktor Lyagushkin (Nikon Ambassador, National Geographic photographer, SUBAL Pro Team member and leader of our PHOTOTEAM.PRO) is taking place in the Moskvarium (Moscow, Russia) as part of the Gorizont ecological festival.
The exhibition titled “The White Sea: Man and Nature” presents photographs from the projects “Until the Ice Melts” and “White Sea Bestiary”. Bizarre Arctic animals coexist with humanoid demons. Thus Viktor shows the environmental problems of the northern seas.
The exhibition will run until July 4, 2021, admission is free.
Viktor Lyagushkin, a dive photographer, has created the world’s first under-ice art exhibition. The underwater art museum looks surreal as the lit photographs float in the dark green water.
The reportage of the French TV channel Franceinfo about our underwater gallery “Until The Ice Melts”. Great team, very good guys, it was a pleasure to work with them.
Underwater video by Bogdana Vashchenko.
You can view the reportage about the exhibition here
