Bharat Desai:

​My interest in photography began early. During my college years in India, I was fascinated by cameras long before I could afford one. A friend owned a Yashica rangefinder, and I was mesmerized by the parallax focusing system — just looking through the viewfinder felt magical. Later, when I had a chance to hold an Olympus SLR, I loved its razor-sharp focus and beautiful color.

When I moved to the U.S., I finally bought my first serious camera: the Nikon F100, a classic film SLR. I photographed portraits, landscapes — anything that caught my eye. Film was expensive, so every shot had to be slow and deliberate. And when the prints came back days later, sometimes out of focus or poorly exposed, it was frustrating — but the fascination never left. In the late eighties, I took my first autumn photography workshop with Art Wolfe at Grandfather Mountain. It was unforgettable — the color, the crisp air, the silence, the rustle of leaves, and the feeling of being completely absorbed in nature.

Then life got busy. Medicine took over. Photography drifted into the background.

Years later, right before the peak of COVID, Dr Pravin Rastogi, a colleague from my pulmonary fellowship reached out. He had gotten into photography, taken workshops, and was exploring landscapes. His enthusiasm pulled me back. We attended a workshop together in the Smokies in 2021. The old spark returned. I rented a Canon mirrorless camera, and there I met another photographer using a Hasselblad. The moment I saw the files, I understood why people swear by it. Eventually I bought one — the “king” of cameras — and loved it from day one. Later, I added a Sony system for long-lens work, which opened even more possibilities.

Around that time, I discovered Sapna Reddy — a fellow physician, a gifted landscape photographer, and a passionate teacher. I contacted her, and she offered a one-on-one workshop. I flew to California on short notice before a winter storm. We planned for Yosemite, but the storm closed all the roads, so we photographed the Eastern Sierra instead — deep snow, silent valleys, pristine scenes. Freezing, exhausting, exhilarating. That trip transformed my vision. Since then, I’ve taken several workshops, and my focus has shifted from simply making sharp, well-exposed images to studying composition, light, mood, and story.

Photography became more than a hobby. It became a way to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with nature — a counterbalance to the intensity of medicine.​

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Neil Desai: 

As my journey continued, my son Neil discovered his own artistic eye through drone photography. His aerial perspectives brought a completely ne

w dimension — lines, patterns, coastlines, and views impossible from the ground. His images were thoughtful, beautiful, and natural. That’s when Desai Dynasty Photography truly took shape: a father photographing the world from the ground, and a son capturing it from the sky.

Our goal is simple: to create images that reflect the beauty, stillness, and wonder we feel in those moments — and to share them as a legacy for our family and anyone who connects with our work.