Lahja, a regal 6-month-old tiger from the Czech Republic, paws playfully at the snow. Then, with her barrel chest, she canters squarely at the camera, giving the impression that she will pounce straight through the lens. Her golden-brown eyes stare unflinching and with a carnivorous frankness—but Lahja is merely enjoying her playtime.
Schieferdecker lives her life surrounded by animals. Her small house near the forest outside of Berlin overflows with dogs and cats. But even so, she also goes out looking for animals. Armed with her constant companion—once a Canon 450D and now a Canon R5—she patiently searches, hoping to find them in their wildly candid moments.
“It’s something special for me to drive through the world, never knowing what I’ll meet where, how the animals will show themselves, or if I’ll end the day successfully. It takes perseverance and patience and can become the happiest moment with just one photo,” Schieferdecker told The Epoch Times.
Schieferdecker, who formerly worked in geriatric care and now manages a pizza delivery service, began her relationship with photography in 2016. Following the death of her 13-year-old beloved dog named Lady, Schieferdecker said, “it was like sitting in a hole.”
“No pretty photos, but a burning heart,” she recalled.
To soothe her pain, Schieferdecker’s family gave her an old camera and encouraged her to take photos of the other dogs at home. The salve worked. Since then, Schieferdecker has been studying the art of photography—learning from courses, workshops, and other photographers.
Then, in 2018, Schieferdecker attended a workshop in the Czech Republic where she met with an animal trainer who allowed photographers to come and take pictures of his animals out in the wild. That is where she met Lahja.
Photographing Lahja, Schieferdecker’s passion for photography amplified. She returned regularly to the Czech Republic every two to three months to take pictures, watching Lahja grow from the energetic juvenile who would leap right at her and playfully bite her thigh, into a stately and powerful tigress.
As a full year passed, Schieferdecker and Lahja visited together in different locations and through each of Central Europe’s seasons. Lahja can be seen in Schieferdecker’s photographs playing hide and seek behind snow-capped trees, splashing in summer’s pools of water, running explosively through meadows, and climbing agilely up trees.
In 2019, when Schieferdecker bid her goodbyes to Lahja, the experience had her hooked. “Since then, I’ve been gripped by the fever of experiencing wildlife with my camera,” she said.
Her fever leads her around the world in search of wildlife’s hidden moments.
“Ground squirrels and field hamsters in Vienna were quickly full of trust, and the squirrels in Sweden also had a lot of fun with my camera. Corona has kept me busy with birds, and I was very happy to see the otters on the ice in Poland in January, or the wolves in wildlife for several days,” she said.
Recently, while the world swelled with the news of war between Russia and Ukraine, Schieferdecker was in the forest 1,000 meters from the Ukrainian border. Her lens was not focused on the war, however, but on the hawks, owls, ground squirrels, and moose that wandered in front of her camera—the silent bystanders to the war raging beside them.
After having watched wildlife in its battles for survival and then observing its unexpected friendships and alliances, Schieferdecker says, “The peace and one with nature is nicer than the terrible news in the world.”
Schieferdecker says she will continue looking for adventures with her camera—trying to capture moments that are not easily recognizable with the naked eye. And, she says, even if she comes home without a photo, she will keep going. She will do it simply for the joy that it brings, because she says it brings balance to her life, and because “it’s nice to enjoy nature in peace.”
Check out more photos below. Enjoy!
Lahja playing in the snow:
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