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.
Peter Shefler photographing daffodils in his Gibsonia, Pa., garden.
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).
Wild daffodils captured using a technique where the flowers appear to be surrounded by a black backdrop.
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.”
Siberian iris in a dramatic dark background.
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.
Peter Shefler often writes poetry inspired by his flower photography.
