diff --git a/Subsurface-mobile.pro b/Subsurface-mobile.pro
index 8e1587a1b..3d2288476 100644
--- a/Subsurface-mobile.pro
+++ b/Subsurface-mobile.pro
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ SOURCES += subsurface-mobile-main.cpp \
 	core/load-git.cpp \
 	core/parse-xml.cpp \
 	core/parse.cpp \
-	core/picture.c \
+	core/picture.cpp \
 	core/pictureobj.cpp \
 	core/sample.cpp \
 	core/import-suunto.cpp \
diff --git a/core/CMakeLists.txt b/core/CMakeLists.txt
index f95851f7d..4aad3ddf0 100644
--- a/core/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/core/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@ set(SUBSURFACE_CORE_LIB_SRCS
 	parse-xml.cpp
 	parse.cpp
 	parse.h
-	picture.c
+	picture.cpp
 	picture.h
 	pictureobj.cpp
 	pictureobj.h
diff --git a/core/load-git.cpp b/core/load-git.cpp
index 88c3f7af4..1d8ec98f9 100644
--- a/core/load-git.cpp
+++ b/core/load-git.cpp
@@ -1773,7 +1773,7 @@ static int parse_picture_entry(struct git_parser_state *state, const git_tree_en
 
 	/* add_picture took ownership of the data -
 	 * clear out our copy just to be sure. */
-	state->active_pic = empty_picture;
+	state->active_pic = picture();
 	return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/core/parse.cpp b/core/parse.cpp
index d3d36b766..fd283f647 100644
--- a/core/parse.cpp
+++ b/core/parse.cpp
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ void event_end(struct parser_state *state)
 {
 	struct divecomputer *dc = get_dc(state);
 	if (state->cur_event.type == 123) {
-		struct picture pic = empty_picture;
+		struct picture pic;
 		pic.filename = strdup(state->cur_event.name);
 		/* theoretically this could fail - but we didn't support multi year offsets */
 		pic.offset.seconds = state->cur_event.time.seconds;
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ void picture_end(struct parser_state *state)
 {
 	add_picture(&state->cur_dive->pictures, state->cur_picture);
 	/* dive_add_picture took ownership, we can just clear out copy of the data */
-	state->cur_picture = empty_picture;
+	state->cur_picture = picture();
 }
 
 cylinder_t *cylinder_start(struct parser_state *state)
diff --git a/core/picture.c b/core/picture.cpp
similarity index 98%
rename from core/picture.c
rename to core/picture.cpp
index 632c3a2f5..3de5f1b35 100644
--- a/core/picture.c
+++ b/core/picture.cpp
@@ -139,7 +139,7 @@ struct picture *create_picture(const char *filename, timestamp_t shift_time, boo
 	if (!match_all && !dive_check_picture_time(*dive, timestamp))
 		return NULL;
 
-	struct picture *picture = malloc(sizeof(struct picture));
+	struct picture *picture = (struct picture *)malloc(sizeof(struct picture));
 	picture->filename = strdup(filename);
 	picture->offset.seconds = metadata.timestamp - (*dive)->when + shift_time;
 	picture->location = metadata.location;
diff --git a/core/picture.h b/core/picture.h
index 042fb9bae..39f526d3a 100644
--- a/core/picture.h
+++ b/core/picture.h
@@ -13,11 +13,10 @@ extern "C" {
 struct dive;
 
 struct picture {
-	char *filename;
-	offset_t offset;
-	location_t location;
+	char *filename = nullptr;
+	offset_t offset = { 0 };
+	location_t location = { { 0 }, { 0 } };
 };
-static const struct picture empty_picture = { NULL, { 0 }, { { 0 }, { 0 } } };
 
 /* loop through all pictures of a dive */
 #define FOR_EACH_PICTURE(_dive)								\