Putting Nature in Focus

His childhood in Brooklyn-where, Ralph Steckler says, “there was no nature”-planted the seed for his adult fascination with the outdoors. Whether he’s face to face with a great horned owl or patiently waiting for the perfect shot of a darting skipper butterfly, Steckler is constantly seeking out the natural beauty in and around the Valley. And there’s nothing like seeing it up close.

“I’m always looking. It’s a way of discovering the world,” he said. “If you’re looking for a picture, you will see things you don’t normally see. That’s true of most things in life. If you’re looking, you will see.”

Steckler’s black-and -white photos of people and cityscapes, taken as a youngster with a borrowed camera, led to a 30-year career as an assistant director making TV commercials, mostly on location. Now, he hopes to make photography his second career.

Many of his subjects are visitors to his Studio City backyard, like the dragonflies that hang around his pool each year in late summer.

“I get in the dragonfly’s face,” Steckler said. “I’m down on my knees and he’s about two inches from my face.”

Amazingly, Steckler uses little film to capture his images. For a shot of a skipper butterfly, the shutter of his Nikon N90 clicked only twice. For a surreal image of a floss silk tree, it took only one shot. No multiple attempts to etemptto get the perfect exposure or holding down the autowinder for five seconds.

“It’s not about a lot of shots. It’s about patience and capturing one shot,” he said.