Board of Advisors | DCP Expeditions

OUR GUIDING FORCE

Santanu Nandy

Senior Advisor - Wildlife Photography

A telecom industry pioneer and first generation entrepreneur, Santanu owns and runs Arrowpoint Technologies, a pension and actuarial software company based in the USA. An electronics engineering graduate, Santanu is an accomplished nature photographer and an avid nature and wildlife enthusiast. He is the founder and publisher of nature and wildlife magazine Saevus. Santanu brings his wealth of corporate, management and photographic field experience to DCP, a project that for him is a labour of love!

Ajay Bedi

Senior Advisor and Masterclass Mentor

Ajay and Vijay Bedi are Emmy nominated wildlife film makers and photographers for almost 2 decades. They are youngest Asians to have won the Green Oscar. Recently Junior Bedi Brothers used their footage to contribute to a scientific paper in collaboration with scientists. They also won 4 National awards in 2019 and 2021 awarded by the President of India for first natural history film devoted to amphibians of India and endangered Adjutant stork.

Vijay Bedi

Senior Advisor and Masterclass Mentor

Rohinton Mehta

Honorary Advisor And Photography Guru

Rohinton Mehta, a living encyclopedia on art and science of photographic techniques. Genius is an understatement for this maestro, Uncle Ronnie, as the world calls him. He is the Technical Editor of Smart Photography, India s number 1 imaging magazine. If you are a subscriber of Smart Photography, you must not miss his regular column Ask Uncle Ronnie. For over 35 years of his experience in the field of photography, he has taught thousands of students and photo-enthusiasts through his brilliant workshops and articles. His ability to simplify complicated technical jargons in an easily understandable way is simply unbeatable. His knowledge of photography is appreciated globally and we at DCP are blessed to have him with us as a photography Guru and an honorary advisor in the panel.

Mohan Thomas

Honorary Advisor - Wildlife Photography

Mohan Thomas, one of the most accomplished wildlife photographers of India, lives in Bangalore with his family. He belongs to the construction industry but his passion of wildlife photography has made him travel across the globe in search of the amazing wonders of nature and wildlife. His images talk for themselves. From Finland to Svalbard, from Tanzania to Brazil, from Kamchatka to the fascinating Indian forests – he has been to the wildest places on this earth and captured some mesmerizing wild moments in his camera. He as a person is as amazing as his work and we are honored to have him in our panel as an honorary advisor to team DCP Expeditions.

Kiran Poonacha

Senior Advisor - Creative Wildlife Photography

Kiran Poonacha, is undoubtedly one of the Ace Bird Photographers of global repute, that the country boasts of. The expertise and the experience he holds in the field of bird photography, is way beyond comparison. Known for his love for raptors, Kiran is also called the raptor man of India. His amazing collection of Birds in Action is immensely unique. Wildlife Photographers from India and across the globe have always been fascinated by Kiran's unique style of images. With smooth, creamy, out of focus backgrounds and the unbelievable sharpness of the subject along with his fantastic sense of composition is a genre of photographic art in itself. We at DCP are privileged to have this maestro with us as our mentor.

Yuwaraj Gurjar

Senior Advisor - Macro Photography Division

Yuwaraj Gurjar - a nationally acclaimed Wildlife photographer, writer, trainer and a conservation activist carrying with him an extensive field experience of more than 25 years in the Indian forests. He has travelled across the vast Indian geography and has thorough knowledge of most of the Indian forests. He has many publications contributing enormously to Indian Wildlife conservation. He has a very good knowledge of the Western Ghats microfauna and he specializes in butterflies and all other forms of macro photography. He is an award winner of hundreds of national and international acclaim. He is truly a national phenomenon, a Biodiversity expert and Senior Macro Photography advisor associated with DCP group.

Sushil Chikane

Senior Advisor - Biodiversity Division

Sushil Chikane - a nationally acclaimed Biodiversity expert, writer, trainer and a conservation activist carrying with him an extensive field experience of more than 15 years in the Indian forests. He has excellent knowledge of the fauna of the Western Ghats and specially loves reptiles. He is an adventure sports instructor for trekking, rafting, scuba diving, rock climbing and works in association with many renowned nature and adventure groups as advisor. He has published more than 8 research papers in various scientific journals on reptiles and avifauna diversity, habitat relationships, diversity analysis, behavioral ecology and conservation status of various species in the Western Ghats. He has travelled across Indian geography and associated with DCP as Senior Advisor, Biodiversity Division.

Digant Desai

Senior Advisor - Underwater Photography Division

Digant Desai is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished Marine Photographers from India having reached an international acclaim. Marine life and the under-water world have been a childhood fascination for Digant. Having seized every opportunity to gather information and study this wonderful world, it has been his heartfelt desire to pursue scuba diving and capture some of these awe-inspiring sights on camera. Backed by this passion, past 40 years of age, Digant finally took the plunge, quite literally, in 2006 and has since been photographing this wonderful world and its even more beautiful creatures. He has won international and national awards and has been penning articles for various wild life and other local and international magazines. He was also on the team as the primary photographer while exploring the Angria Banks on a project by NIO. The world needs to know more about this stunningly beautiful parallel world and it is Digant's mission to showcase the same through photographs, help raise awareness and preserve this for future generations. We are honored to have Digant on board as a Senior Advisor, Underwater Photography Division.

Akshay Rajput

Senior Advisor - Cinematography Division

Akshay Rajput - Freelance Cinematographer and the best in his field, has an enviable track record so far. A man with many layers, the more you get to know him the more amazed you will be. Carrying a mind full of knowledge about the wild, he thrills you with fascinating stories of adventurous encounters with the unpredictable predators of the wild. He doesn’t need an introduction in the world of Cinematography. He has remained the Director of Photography in - MasterChef India, MTV Roadies, MTV Unplugged, India Raw Star, Dance India Dance Season 5, Power couple, MTV Splitsvilla, Channel V India, MTV India, The stage. We are honored to have Akshay as a Senior Advisor in DCP's Creative Cinematography Division.

Debraj Chakraborty

Senior Advisor - Landscape Photography

Debraj Chakraborty, initially a passionate landscape painter later became one among the finest landscape photographers from India. He is based out of Silchar in Assam and is a Nikon India Expertive. Two times winner of DJMPC, one of the most prestigious photography competition. He is a NISI filters mentor too. In his travel across geographies in quest for landscapes his work displays amazing light and fleeting atmosphere from those places. He has till date, bagged many national and international awards and his photos adore the wall of prestigious institutions across India. His photographs and articles get featured in leading books, magazines, websites and calendars. We are proud to have him on our panel as a senior advisor.

Sarang Bhand

Senior Advisor - Strategy Team

Sarang, a distinction holder as a Licentiate from the prestigious Royal Photographic Society is a hardcore wildlife enthusiast, avid traveller and a photographer by passion. Sarang has also successfully completed his Image analysis course from Photographic Society of America, which is a 12 week interactive course with discourse on a wide range of images right from abstract to fine art category. By qualification he is a marketing graduate from Symbiosis College of Arts & Commerce, Pune, a Management post graduate from Chifley Business School, Australia and a certified Advanced Project Management specialist from Stanford Centre for Professional Development, Stanford University, Co-owner of a technology driven company, engaged in promoting green field technologies in environment management sector. He is a passionate Wildlifer and is associated with team DCP as a Senior Advisor in the Core Strategy Team in addition to being the Project Coordinator for DCP Explorers program.

our board of advisors