Born in Minnesota in 1921, Frederick B. Scheel served as a Navy fighter pilot, flying a Corsair in the South Pacific and in the US Marine Corps from 1942-46, becoming First Lieutenant. He received the Air Medal with two Gold Stars. Scheel took an interest in photography and poetry during his life. He traveled to many areas and foreign countries to take photographs. Fred later published two books, “The Search to See I and II” in conjunction with the exhibitions at the Plains Art Museum, Moorhead, MN, and Minneapolis Institute of Art, MN, and a book of poetry called “Poems and Other Words.” In 1961 and 69, Fred attended the Ansel Adams Yosemite Photography Workshop and established a new and serious turn in photography. In 1978, he was elected an Advisory Trustee of the Friends of Photography, Carmel, CA, which later moved to San Francisco as the Ansel Adams Center. Fred gave his collection of photographs by master photographers to the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
