Peter Shefler discovered art as a preteen.

Growing up in an artistic family in rural Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, he was immersed in nature as his family home sat amid open space and woodlands. He found enjoyment in reading and writing poetry, as well as in the visual arts of drawing and photography — and at times combined all three.

Today, decades later at age 72, Shefler still finds awe in all things natural. He shares that joy with friends and on social media with beautiful nature photographs including exquisite flower blooms of the hundreds of perennials in the gardens surrounding his Gibsonia home.

His work also includes birds, wildlife and sailing photos of the historic Chesapeake Bay log canoes — taken during summers at his grandmother’s St. Michael’s, Maryland, home — to capture their 100-year-old heritage.

Shefler, who lost sight in one eye several years ago, now spends more time in his flower garden during the growing seasons. He still gets into the field or on the road capturing images of sand cranes in Nebraska, eagles in Maryland or the recent solar eclipse from Erie, Pennsylvania.

Shefler is a photographer who does not expose hundreds of images to capture a few.

“I can certainly do that … with modern digital cameras I can take dozens of shots of a flower, bird or tree with one press of the shutter but that’s not what I am all about,” Shefler said. “I take my time and concentrate on composition, light, details and background so when I engage the shutter button I really know what the image will look like.”

The photographer has made the switch to all digital equipment — as have most photographers — and recently upgraded to mirrorless 35 mm equipment. He uses Canon and Nikon camera bodies coupled with long, variable focal length telephoto lenses which for flower photography isn’t the usual choice for capturing detail.

Working best for Shefler means his camera is set with a high ISO (sensitivity to light) and wide aperture (letting the most light reach his camera’s digital sensor).

This technique allows him to not only blur out the background of his images with a shallow depth of field but if he chooses the right natural background, it will turn black just as if the flower blooms were under artificial light in front of a black felt background.

Achieving that look always takes some time to set up the right angle in the right light (he prefers the golden light of late afternoon and early evening). For just the right look, Shefler may spend an hour or more setting up a photograph or come back the following day when light and conditions are perfect.

Regardless, he will only do a few exposures of his subject. “If I plan correctly, that’s really all I need,” he said.

Shefler notes he always felt a deep connection to the mysteries of the natural world and the spiritual aspects he feels in the creation of his art, which for decades has allowed him to combine his poetry with photographic images.

“Most times the act of seeing the image that ends up in the photograph is the trigger for the poetry I write to accompany it,” Shefler said. “But there are times when I actually flip it around and look for a photograph to illustrate a poem.”

Although Shefler’s friends are constantly encouraging him to print cards they could send to family and friends for birthdays, anniversaries and holidays, the photographer just hasn’t yet found the right printer/publisher to work with to get it done.

Shefler got serious with flower photography more than a decade ago and over time has filled the 1.5 acres of gardens on his property with winding paths and small plots filled with his favorite flowers.

“I plant about 500 perennials and bulbs a year,” he explained. “And (I) choose the flowers carefully so that they are long bloomers and there is something to photograph from spring through fall.”

To get an idea of just some of the variety of flowers that call Shefler’s garden home, he has about 200 different day lilies, 50 varieties of narcissus, about 10 varieties of peonies and more than 100 different Siberian and Japanese irises that he likes to photograph because of their delicate and transparent petals that lend themselves to backlighting.

Shefler’s advice for would-be flower photographers starts with having patience.

“If you want to be serious about shooting nature, it demands patience,” he said. “Not only to scout out the best example of what you want to capture but the right time of day and adjusting whatever controls you have on your camera to capture what your mind’s eye sees.”

Shefler practices what he preaches and takes time first to compose the image he wants to take and from the correct angle before he adjusts his camera setting to a high ISO, with auto white balance and a shutter speed of at least 1/1000th of a second.

“My ulterior motive for the high shutter speed, is if you are out in nature you may suddenly encounter an eagle overhead or a butterfly that pops up and the high shutter speed allows me to ‘grab that shot’ too without fiddling with my camera settings,” he said.

Bollywood actress Preity Zinta recently encountered an unpleasant situation with the paparazzi in Mumbai. While entering a venue, Zinta, who is currently filming for the upcoming period drama Lahore 1947, was surrounded by photographers, causing her discomfort.

Preity Zinta calls out paparazzi for intrusive photography in Mumbai: “You all are scaring me”

Dressed casually, the Veer Zaara actress was caught off guard by the sudden influx of cameras. As per reports, she expressed her startled state, stating, “Guys, you all are scaring me, please.”  Despite the initial surprise, Zinta maintained her composure, offering a smile and wave before entering the venue.

This incident has sparked discussions online, with netizens criticising the paparazzi’s aggressive approach. Many fans expressed their disapproval on social media, highlighting the importance of respecting celebrities’ privacy. Comments included, “It’s true… give the woman space to walk and for her to hear who she’s talking to on the phone. The paps are borderline rude. It’s unacceptable!” and “Rubbish you guys invading people’s privacy stop your nonsense it’s not funny.”

Speaking of Preity, she is an avid social media user. She recently made headlines for dropping a heartfelt comment on her Dil Se co-star Manish Koirala’s Instagram post. Her sweet note read, “I will never forget how lovely, welcoming & generous you were to me in Dil Se. Thanks to you I started my film journey on such a positive note. You never made me feel I was working with a superstar & nurtured me on the shoot – always smiling, accommodating & ready for rehearsal & suggestions. You will always be Hero on & off camera.”

Coming to the professional front, as mentioned above, Preity is currently shooting for Lahore 1947. Directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and produced by Aamir Khan Productions, it marks Zinta’s return to the big screen after a hiatus. The film, co-starring Sunny Deol and his son Karan Deol, is slated for release on Republic Day 2025. 

Also Read: Preity Zinta praises Shah Rukh Khan: “A generous and fun actor who keeps you on your toes”

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The photographers presenting their work at this year’s Slidefest Palestine event in London offered a strongly worded rebuke to western media outlets about the photojournalism they commission in Gaza and the West Bank.

Dubai’s Gulf Photo Plus launched the event on Wednesday at the University of Greenwich’s Stephen Lawrence Gallery, focusing on photographers from or working in Palestine: Tanya Habjouqa, Maen Hammad, PhotoKegham/Ozge Calafato, Samar Hazboun and Rehaf Batniji.

Habjouqa and Hammad, who shoot individual projects and freelance for western media outlets, highlighted the problems of media access and misrepresentation across Palestine.

Foreign reporters, as well as those from the West Bank, are effectively banned from Gaza. The images published in the media are mostly from local photographers, or stringers for newswires such as AP and Reuters. But Habjouqa, who lives in East Jerusalem, says that some media outlets have been shying away from using their work recently.

“I am extremely frustrated by the access to photographers in Gaza,” she says. “Many US outlets are not hiring because of what they call the ‘duty of care’ – they do not want to be responsible if something happens.”

Foreign media are allowed in the West Bank but coverage of the territory is often not a priority for media outlets. Israel is also seen to be actively containing the narratives emerging from Palestine. It shut down Al Jazeera’s Palestinian bureau last week, raiding its East Jerusalem offices, and the Israeli military often stages press events.

“Foreign journalists fly into Ramallah, and events are frequently misrepresented,” says Hammad, who splits his time between Washington DC and Ramallah. “But my role is not to take a photo and leave. I’m part of this community.”

The questions of press freedoms and the challenges faced by photojournalists in accurately depicting the region are by no means new to Slidefest, but they have achieved a crucial significance given the live nature of the conflict, and made the event particularly emotionally charged.

Gulf Photo Plus launched Slidefest Palestine in 2009 in Dubai, after they looked for a place for photographers to come together and present recent projects.

GPP’s director, Mohamed Somji, explains that the presentation format makes it more intimate than an exhibition, and usually entails around five photographers showing new work to an audience.

Since 2009 there have been more than 30 editions, mostly at Alserkal Avenue but also in sites abroad such as Cairo, Riyadh, Jeddah and Bahrain.

The latest edition showed the breadth of work being produced in Palestine, from photojournalism to efforts to preserve historical archives, and included a tribute to the photographer Majd Arandas, who was killed by an Israeli air strike in November.

In one of the most harrowing accounts, Samar Hazboun from Bethlehem showed her project about women who are forced to give birth at checkpoints. This is often because something has gone wrong during their labour and they are delayed by the Israelis while trying to get to the hospital.

More often than not, they lose their babies. In other cases, the infants suffer complications with lasting effects on their development.

Often, the only proof the women have of the episodes are the baby clothes that they had prepared for their children, and in rarer cases, a death certificate.

Hazboun is currently photographing Gazans who had travelled to the West Bank for medical care before October 7 and remained trapped there because the war has made their return impossible.

One woman is in the West Bank because her fourth child needed heart surgery. A few months ago she received the news that an air strike had killed her three older children in Gaza.

After Hazboun’s presentation, many audience members were in tears.

The Turkish media scholar Ozge Calafato presented the work Studio Kegham, which was set up in 1944 by the Armenian photographer Kegham Djeghalian and became the main photography studio for Gaza.

Armenians were prohibited by the Ottomans to take up many professions and many became chemists – and then, when the chemical processes of photography were introduced, ran most photography studios in the Ottoman Empire.

An air strike in October destroyed the archive and killed Marwan Tarazi, who had been looking after it. Since then, Kegham’s grandson, an artist, has taken over the project.

He now has only three small boxes left – which he discovered only recently by chance – and has put out a social media call to Gazans to help crowdsource images from their families that were taken at the studio.

The night closed on the work of Rehaf Batniji, a Palestinian photographer who was able to flee Gaza in December. Her work is also being shown in Alserkal Avenue’s current Venice exhibition, When Solidarity Is Not a Metaphor.

She presented images that she took on the day of October 6 showing the beaches of Gaza off Al Rashid Street. They show fishermen’s huts, cobbled together out of bits of corrugated metal and polyester blankets, and views on to the calm sea.

“Sometimes I see the blue sky and the blue beach and I can’t imagine that there is aggression and oppression elsewhere,” she said. “I will never post anything about the worst times and the bad things. I will only post things with positive vibes, because that is what we need to remember.”

Updated: May 13, 2024, 3:04 AM

A captivating photograph of a black bear appearing to smile while overlooking Pasadena has become a viral sensation on social media. The image, captured by Los Angeles wildlife photographer Johanna Turner, highlights the proximity of wildlife to urban areas in California.

In an exclusive interview with Pasadena Now, Turner, who lives in Reseda and has friends in the Pasadena area with private property where she has cameras set up, shared her inspiration behind the photograph. 

“I’m always looking for ways to show how close wildlife is to Los Angeles and the city,” she explained. “This spot is a ridge line that as I’ve hiked it, I’ve seen a lot of animal tracks, so I know that animals use it and the view lends itself perfectly to the kind of image I’m trying to get.”

Turner’s initial interest in the spot was to photograph mountain lions, which are her favorite subject. She set up her trail camera, a regular Canon handheld camera with a motion sensor, on April 21. The camera uses a long exposure, with the shutter open for about 30 seconds, and only triggers once when an animal approaches, unlike camera traps that take a burst of photos. 

“The animal approaching triggers the camera to go off and a person is nowhere near. I am at home in bed when the photo gets taken,” she said.

While there wasn’t much wildlife activity over the winter due to cold and rainy conditions, Turner noted that now that springtime is here, the animals are definitely up and about. She also mentioned that wildlife will be roaming everywhere this spring because of the water availability in streams and canyons from a good rainy winter, as opposed to drought conditions.

The bear’s relaxed appearance in the photograph has caught the attention of many. “It’s the relaxed face, which people take it as a smile, which is not really something a bear would be walking around smiling in the middle of the night, but that’s what catches our eye because that’s a familiar look,” Turner noted. 

“But to that point, this is a very relaxed animal who’s healthy and not stressed.”

Turner’s work aims to raise awareness about the diverse wildlife in the San Gabriel Mountains, including mountain lions, bobcats, gray foxes, striped skunks, and several kinds of owls.

“What I hope to do is show people what we have because they might not be aware how beautiful and great and how rich in wildlife our mountains are,” she said.

As bears become more active this spring, Turner believes that fostering a connection with these animals can help prevent conflicts. 

“I believe that the more we can have a connection with an animal and see them as beautiful or valuable rather than a pest, people will be more likely to take steps to keep their trash secured and not leave food outside that would attract bears and get them into trouble,” she explained.

Turner collaborates with conservation groups such as the Cougar Conservancy and Arroyos and Foothills Conservancy to identify and preserve critical wildlife corridors. She also sells her wildlife photos and contributes a portion of the proceeds to various animal conservation groups. 

“We’re working on identifying where animals are crossing and preserving that land before it gets pinched off and preventing that natural flow,” she said.