Clarifications to Our September Wetpixel Story

After publishing our September article on Wetpixel, "Is Wetpixel Breaking Bad?" the owner, Adam Hanlon, emailed us requesting certain corrections. We asked him for permission to reprint his communication in its entirety so that our subscribers could review his comments on the article, but he refused to permit us to republish any portion of his email or letter. So, we take this opportunity to note certain clarifications to our piece and hereby correct any error or misunderstanding.

1. If we gave the impression that Hanlon was the first to organize trips under the Wetpixel banner, we take this opportunity to clarify that Hanlon was not the first to organize trips under the Wetpixel banner, as Wetpixel offered trips before he was involved.

2. Shortly after the article was posted in the September issue (it was for subscribers only and not the general public), the Damai's owner, Alberto Reija, said in a post on Alex Mustard's FaceBook page and in an email to Undercurrent:

   "There must have been some little misunderstanding somehow. Adam did pay for a large part of the trip on Damai, although not completely. He failed to pay a part of it and also to pay the money he has collected from his guests and intended for tips for the crew.

   "Also we did not mention anything to the guests, we did not want them to feel bad about it, and we still hoped that Adam would recover from his conditions and eventually pay what he had collected, as he did pay a little bit after the trip had already concluded.

   "Unfortunately he did stop replying to our different attempts to contact way too soon.

   "We did not say anything to our guests at the time of the trip, and only did so very recently. First wanted to give Adam a chance. We all go through good and less-good times; in times of difficulties, we should be able to face our industry friends and explain what is happening and commit to do better when the right time arrives. We are unhappy he did not fulfill his financial commitment,; we are disappointed about the fact he apparently decided not to reply our attempts."

   After Undercurrent received this information, we clarified our article on our website to read, "but while they had paid Hanlon for the trip, Hanlon had neither confirmed nor paid fully for it."

3. We said Lembeh Resort had yet to be paid for the workshop. We emailed Danny Charlton, who responded and said, "We did not receive all due to us." We should have said that "Lembeh has yet to be paid in full." We take this opportunity to correct our article in this regard.

   The credit card incident was reported to us by Charlton and Alex Mustard, who were at the resort. Hanlon was not present, having remained in the U.K.

4. Adam Hanlon was actively involved in Wetpixel before he purchased it. We did not state that Wetpixel Ltd. purchased Wetpixel in December 2018. We take this opportunity to clarify our article in this regard.

5. After our story was published, Alex Mustard told us that he had not been paid his fees for two back-toback seminars to Lembeh, Indonesia, or his travel expenses from the U.K. We take this opportunity to clarify our article wherein we had stated that he had not been paid for several trips.

6. Wetpixel has not canceled any trips to Lembeh, nor did we report or imply that it had. If what we wrote can be construed otherwise, we take this opportunity to clarify our article.

7. Ms. Wells reported to us that she was eventually refunded for her trip.

8. One 2023 Tiger Shark trip was still being advertised early in September. We contacted the vessel's owner, who confirmed that he did not have a Wetpixel trip on his agenda, and we reported that. We did not state nor imply that Hanlon had sold any spaces or taken any money for trips recently advertised. We take this opportunity to correct any inference to the contrary.

9. Before publication, we viewed the video conversation between Hanlon and Alex Mustard, which was posted on the Wetpixel Facebook page in August 2022, during which Hanlon discussed his heart attack several weeks previously. Hanlon described the circumstances and the excellent work of the rescue team and reported in the video that he was feeling much better and had been cleared to travel. He said they had put a stent in him, "so theoretically, I'm better than I was before." Our article cast no doubt on his heart attack, and we take this opportunity to clarify that there was no intent to question whether he remained ill.

10. We understand Hanlon may be working with individuals affected by the failure of the Red Sea Trips to achieve a satisfactory outcome.

11. Our article stated he was "holding his customers' money in trust so that they could get a better discount on booking." We should have said that Wetpixel travelers trusted him to hold their money. We take this opportunity to clarify our article.

* * *

Dr. Alex Mustard, who was made a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Prince Charles on December 20, 2018, offered a few clarifications and more information in an email he sent us on September 21, which is, with Dr. Mustard's permission, reprinted in its entirely.

Dear Undercurrent,

Thank you for publishing the story about Adam Hanlon "Is Wetpixel Breaking Bad?" in the September issue. It is important that such behaviour is exposed and our community isn't one that sweeps such things under the carpet.

That said, it remains a stressful situation for those of us impacted. Adam Hanlon has kept large amount of money from seven Wetpixel trips that ran or should have run during the last 12 months. This is money that should have either been paid to operators or to cover other costs, refunded as cancellations or paid as staff tips to resorts, dive centres and liveaboards. Adam also cancelled himself of all these trips, saving his own travel costs and leaving guests without the interaction with him that they paid for. Those impacted estimate well over $100,000 USD (only Adam knows for sure) is unaccounted, as detailed in your article. This money has been withheld mostly from people who considered Adam a friend, making the situation particularly upsetting.

I am writing to correct a few small errors in the article and add a little more detail. I know that many people contacted Undercurrent and it is understandable that this led to some very minor confusion on points. But it is vital to stress none of this changed the main story: Adam Hanlon still not paying out the money he owes.

I want to add the following corrections/ clarifications:

Eric Cheng didn't start Wetpixel, but he ran and owned it from before it became well known until it was bought by Adam. I've been a proud and active member of that photo community since 2002. I have also led occasional photo trips and workshops for Wetpixel since 2006, on average one every couple of years.

As part of that, I have taught Wetpixel workshops at Lembeh Resort, in collaboration with Adam, in 2013, 2016 (2 events), 2018 (2 events) and in March 2023 (2 9-day events). Only these last two are part of the seven "Breaking Bad" ones. As I was only involved in the two Lembeh trips, I will limit my comments to those.

Adam, through Wetpixel, organised and took all bookings and payments for these trips. My name was used widely in the marketing because I run about 12 underwater photography workshops each year and they have a strong following. My role was to run the teaching in Lembeh - giving daily detailed talks on macro photography techniques (morning) and to run daily sessions (evening) reviewing the photographers' images. For this I should have been paid and have my flight costs refunded. Although six months later I still have not.

To correct the article, which says I am owed for "several", the two Lembeh workshops in March 2023 are the only I am owed payment for. But I am keen to stress, I am only a small part of this story. The photographers are the more typical victims, along with the resort staff deprived of gratuities collected for them.

The biggest hole in the Lembeh finances comes from the people who booked this trip originally and were not able to make the COVID rescheduled dates. These people were all promised a refund once their space was resold. There are 12 people who paid $5000 USD or more (depending on rooms, supplements, etc.) who could not make the post-COVID dates - totally over $60,000 USD. A small part of this money might be owed to Lembeh Resort against an unfilled room on each week (as both workshops ran with 2 empty slots), I don't know the details of Adam's agreement with them. I reduced the teaching fee I had agreed with Adam, so I only invoiced for those who attended.

As with previous Lembeh workshops, Adam would help in the running of these workshops, taking charge of the admin for the group in the resort, and also assisting with the teaching. However, he cancelled his attendance by text message to me on the day we were supposed to both be travelling to Lembeh, saying he was too ill to travel. Since I was running all the teaching, this didn't impact much on the guests (just extra work for me) and both trips were highly enjoyable and productive.

I'd also like to explain the Wetpixel Gratuity Policy. Since Eric's time, Wetpixel trips have always taken a 10 percent gratuity up front from guests and paid it to the resort on their behalf. I have never done this on my own workshops, but this always worked for Wetpixel - while Eric owned it. Guests liked it too, because it meant they didn't need to bring lots of cash. But Eric tells me that it was introduced to ensure Wetpixel groups always gave good tips, with the whole group contributing, given that Wetpixel typically worked for years with the same operators.

Until 2023, I wasn't aware of any problems with the system. However, on arrival in Lembeh, Danny Charlton asked me to remind Adam about this year's gratuity because there had been problems after the 2018 trips. This was the first I or any of the guests from that trip knew about it, and always assumed Adam paid this in full in the resort. I contacted Adam from Lembeh, knowing the gratuity was important because the staff had had very little income during the COVID closures. Adam assured me he had budgeted the normal 10 percent, which adds up to a lot when you have 29 people travelling on a trip that costs upwards of $5000 USD. But he still has this money and has not paid this money to the staff.

Before sending this email, I have just read another article about this situation where Adam claims he didn't pay the gratuity because Lembeh Resort sent him a final bill he didn't agree with. This makes me quite angry because Adam is treating the gratuity money from the guests as his own, to choose what to do with. Lembeh Resort tell me he never paid this anyway. Also this is at odds with communication I had with him back in May where he accepts he owes the money to everyone, but still can't pay because he is too ill....

What we have all found frustrating and incriminating is that Adam's behaviour since the Lembeh workshops bears no relation to someone who is honestly trying to sort this out. Adam had a minor heart attack in July 2022, but he remained active updating Wetpixel and highly active on social media after his heart attack until the end of March 2023 - the time we returned from Lembeh. Then he suddenly disappeared, hinting at health reasons. He's not posted on social media and not updated Wetpixel since then. He has also not commented on any of the threads on the Wetpixel forums discussing this situation and criticizing his behaviour. He's not asked any of the guests how their trips went. He has ignored almost all attempts to call or message him, and when he has briefly replied, illness was always cited as the reason for his inaction (he actually always accepted to owed all the money in correspondence).

As people became increasingly frustrated and suspicious they started asking around and several discovered for several months he has been back teaching students underwater in the U.K. Despite his social media blackout, others found evidence of him being well and active during every month this year. He now says he's working to pay people what he owes. Easy to say. He's not begun to pay anyone. He has everyone's email address but hasn't contacted anyone to even apologize, let alone explained why he's still keeping all this money six months after Lembeh.

People also discovered that while he wouldn't reply to emails about Lembeh debts, he would happily sell and bill people for future Wetpixel trips and respond rapidly to enquiries about booking on them. Knowing that people were still losing their money to him on future trips, we felt it was important to get the message out, which led to one of the group contacting Undercurrent.

At the time of writing, I know that the authorities have been contacted both in the U.K. and in photographers' own countries. And I also know that lawyers have been instructed too.

I do hope the Wetpixel forums can survive as they help so many. Wetpixel members are the victims, after all. I am also pleased that none of this has impacted my long relationship with Lembeh Resort, which goes back almost a decade longer than the Wetpixel workshops, and I am already looking forward to hosting a new workshop there in May 2024.

Finally, please remember that this is just part of the story, the Wetpixel Lembeh workshops were just two of seven "Breaking Bad" Wetpixel trips with similar or worse financial problems.

- Dr. Alex Mustard MBE