Nakul Dev Mahajan is an incredibly talented dancer and choreographer. He is also very well known as the top Bollywood Dance teacher in California. He created the first Bollywood Dance School in the nation in 2003 under his dance company, NDM Productions.
We met Nakul about five years ago when we photographed a wedding of another Bollywood dancer. He was a friend of the bride, though at the time we didn’t know he was a dancer. He was just a charming and friendly guy that we found so easy to talk to. We talked for a bit and then suddenly he was performing this fantastic dance number! We were surprised, but also so incredibly impressed!
From this meeting a wonderful relationship emerged, both professionally and personally. He became both a friend and a client and we photographed headshots and dance images for him.
Perhaps most exciting was when he danced for us and our guests at our wedding in 2005!
Imagine our delight and surprise when we saw him last week on “So You Think You Can Dance!” He choreographed a spectacular Bollywood dance number on the show. It was truly amazing! If you missed it, watch it here!
Last weekend Prasad and I drove up to beautiful Santa Barbara for my niece’s graduation from UCSB. The campus was gorgeous! The weather was perfect for this extra special event.
They almost didn’t need decorations with all the lush foliage and vibrant flowers everywhere.
We managed to find our grad, my beautiful niece Katie, among the sea of black caps and gowns.
Continue reading ‘Graduation Day at UCSB!’
One of the charitable organizations we are passionate about supporting is Healing Odyssey, a nonprofit organization which offers recovery support for cancer survivors. A couple of weeks ago I participated in the 5th Annual Empowerment Walk for the Healing Odyssey in Central Park in Huntington Beach. I walked with my sister, Barbara Stamp, a breast cancer survivor.
Together we walked in honor of my brother, also a survivor, as well as another of my brothers and my mother, both of whom we lost to cancer (you can see their names on my back!).
The walk was very meaningful for me and it was so empowering to be among all these survivors and their loved ones. The energy that radiated from all these people was astonishing. You could almost feel the strength of the group and the hope of each person walking there.
I enjoyed every moment of this walk, from the warm up, to the set up (they even put Prasad to work setting up the food tables!) and all the way through to the finish line.
My sister and I finished the walk in high spirits, determined to walk again next year.
It is so devastating to lose someone to cancer, and we are so fortunate that we know so many survivors. We ardently sponsor this charity and the encouragement and support it provides for people like my sister. Plan to hear from me as I prepare to walk again next year!
We recently had the honor of photographing John DeMain, Artistic Director and Conductor for Opera Pacific. This year is his tenth anniversary conducting for Opera Pacific. At the Opera Ball last weekend, John was honored with videos of highlights from his career, along with a slideshow of our images.
John DeMain is also the Music Conductor for the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Artistic Director for the Madison Opera in Madison, Wisconsin. Prior to his work with the Madison Symphony he was the Music Director and Principal Conductor for the Houston Grand Opera for 18 years. In that time he won the Grammy Award, Tony Award and France’s Grand Prix du Disque.
John was so much fun to work with! He was such a good sport, and even let us photograph him conducting Beatles music in our studio! (As you can see, the music was pretty intense!)
It was such a pleasure and privilege to work with such a talented, brilliant, yet very charming and modest gentleman. We look forward to visiting with him again soon!
Published by prasad April 6th, 2008
in Children.
For the last several years, we’ve been working with Project Cuddle, an amazing organization that finds homes for babies that have been abandoned, as well as helping pregnant women who might otherwise abandon babies to safely deliver the babies, and then finds loving homes for them.
For the past couple of years, we have had the privilege of working with Project Cuddle to create a calendar to help generate funds for the organization. We photographed some of the beautiful babies and children who have been adopted through Project Cuddle. It was amazing to work with these families. We asked each mother what she felt the first time she looked into her new baby’s eyes, and with tears in their eyes they said things such as:
“It’s amazing how much love you can have for a child, knowing you would do anything for her.”
“I couldn’t wait to get her home and spend the rest of my life loving her.”
and
“All of our dreams came true when we first held our child in our arms.”
You wouldn’t believe the joy and gratefulness that emanated from these parents. We had a blast working with them and their beautiful children, photographing them in our studio for the 2008 calendar that Project Cuddle sells to raise funds for their organization. And it felt good to us, too, donating our time and resources for such an incredible and important cause.
To add to our excitement, on February 23rd Project Cuddle presented us with the President’s Choice Volunteer of the Year Award for our commitment and dedication. What an remarkable recognition to receive! But we wouldn’t have had it any other way. We already won just by spending time with these blessed and joyous parents and their stunning children.
Published by Administrator June 15th, 2007
in headshots.
We had lots of fun photographing Volker Schad, who traveled all the way from Dusseldorf, Germany to have his headshot taken by Prasad Photography in Newport Beach. Volker wanted us to create a variety of images reflecting his personality, confidence, professionalism and intellect. He was thrilled with the images and will be using them for his website and brochures. Volker is a business coach who works with CEO’s of major corporations. It was great getting to know Volker and sharing our work with him. He really enjoyed our photo gallery, including images taken by Prasad of the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa. We look forward to Volker’s next visit! 
