PASSIONATE ABOUT NATURE
Tushar Sharma
Founder, Director,
Photography Teacher
Tushar Sharma is a nature photographer, teacher, and father of two daughters. IMAgEN8 was born out of his love of nature and his desire to deepen people's love and connection with our natural environment, improve mental wellbeing, foster sustainable living, encourage kaitiakitanga, and bring joy. Tushar is the Principal Educator of IMAgEN8, and has been conducting workshops and publishing books since 2019. He has published 13 books - six of his photography and writings and seven for IMAgEN8.
Nagaja Sanatkumar
Founder, Director
Nagaja Sanatkumar is a professional director and is passionate about youth wellbeing, art, sustainability and nature. She loves exploring New Zealand with her family.
Julie Bassett
Director
Julie Bassett is an executive leader at Constellation Brands, one of NZ’s leading wine companies. Her current responsibilities include HR, communications, IT, data and PMO across their international division. She is also involved in industry wide activities such as women in wine and on-the-job education. In her spare time Julie enjoys nature walks with her dogs and spending time with family. As an amateur photographer, her favourite subjects are African animals, birds and plants.
Penny Milner
Photography Teacher, Mentor
Penny is a photographer who loves to take pictures of nature, people and places. She has 2 children both studying at Otago university. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, cooking, and of course, taking pictures.
D'Artagnan Sprengel
Photography Teacher, Mentor
D’Artagnan is a 18 year old photographer from Auckland, New Zealand. He has been taking photos since he was ten, and mainly does bird and macro photography as well as a bit of astro and landscape photography. He has been very successful in national and international photo competitions and most recently he has been awarded Young Nature Photographer of the Year 2024.
Sasank Sasikumar
Photography Mentor
Sasank is a nature photographer with experience from South Africa and New Zealand. He volunteers for our workshops and mentors students.
Kinga Nagygyorgy
Photography mentor
Kinga is a nature and travel photographer from Hungary. She volunteers at our workshops and mentors students.
Adrian Wild
Videographer, Filmmaker
Adrian is an experienced filmmaker and videographer, volunteering his time to film at workshops and create videos to promote our mission.
Ana Lyubich
Magazine editor
Ana is a founder of Excio Photo Community and The Art of Seeing Academy and is the volunteer editor for our magazine, Compassionate Nature. Ana is based in Wellington and does nature, lifestyle, and branding photography.
Vu Khuu
Website
Vu is a software developer, volunteering to maintain the look and feel of the IMAgEN8 website.
Dawn Lee
Social Media
Dawn Lee is a passionate Photographer and Content Creator who graduated from AUT with a Bachelor of Visual Arts degree.
Amolika Soni
Coordinator and workshop volunteer
Amolika is an Aerospace engineer and volunteers as our workshop operations coordinator and workshop photography mentor.
Elina Tumanova
Coordinator
Elina is an Accounting professional and volunteers as our workshop operations coordinator.
Hina Patel
Photography Teacher and Mentor
Hina is a photographer, videographer and artist who incorporates her love of nature into her work.
Katrina Comeskey
Marketing
Katrina is Marketing Manager, volunteering her time to help us with digital marketing, website, SEO.
Mike Hellen
Photography mentor
Mike is a nature photographer and volunteers as a photography mentor.
Chen Cui
Videographer
Chen volunteers at the workshops as a videographer. He loves wildlife videography and is finishing his studies in zookeeping.
DONORS and SUPPORTERS
Vaidya Gupta Family Trust
Philanthropic donor whose early support enabled purchase of cameras and school workshop programs.
Roscommon School
Whaea Pare Paul (Rumaki Reo unit, Whanau leader), Junaid Rungan (Deputy Princial), Sima Alefaio (Deputy Principal), Terry Televave
Orakei Local Board
Funding for the nature reserve workshops in Eastern Bays and the Borrow a camera, Adopt a reserve program
Scott Milne, Margaret Voyce, Sarah Powrie
Auckland Council
Michelle Brinsden, Joanne Rutherford, Lucia Davis, Mary Stewart, Bevan Chuang
Epsom Normal Primary School
Ateel Sudhakar (Principal), Dillon Rungan (Deputy Principal), Christina Zhang (Teacher in charge)
Book and Image Printing
Printart.co.nz (John Botton)
Keen2Print (Chris Keen)
Bookprint.co.nz
.jpg)
