Being in Victoria this weekend, with a view of flowering trees and morning sunshine outside the window, makes it hard to believe we were hiking through the snow a few weeks ago in Kamloops. Such a nice impromptu trip to visit our families, with delicious meals, snow every day and, of course, plenty of cat snuggling.

Here’s what we really went for: adorable pets.

Mr. Schmidt on a cold day in The Little Photo Shop.

On Saturday, April 23, 2011, Wilf Schmidt passed away. He was my social studies teacher in grade 10 and my photography teacher in grades 11 and 12 at Kamloops Secondary School. He also taught me pinhole photography when I was an elementary school participant in the Young Artists Conference.

After we graduated and Jordan and I had moved to Victoria, Mr. Schmidt retired from teaching and opened up a photography store in downtown Kamloops. The store was the size of a large closet and he could be found behind the little desk crammed into the tapering end of the room, usually entertaining whoever could squeeze into the space. The Little Photo Shop lived up to its name — Mr. Schmidt claimed it was the smallest photography supply store in the world – and it was cluttered with his work, famous photographs and an eclectic collection of cameras.

The tiny, eccentric scale of the store came as no surprise to anyone who knew Mr. Schmidt. He loved small things infused with big personalities. From him I learned about pinhole and toy cameras and the arresting images that could be created by such basic objects (his store was the only one in Kamloops to sell Holgas; he posted a sign declaring himself “Holga Salesman of the Year”).

Anja and I holding some of Mr. Schmidt’s photos in 2001. Note the “tiny bike with big feet” photo on the right.

One of his series of photographs always stuck with me: tiny objects in contrast with larger things, a simple and whimsical concept. Jessica said that Mr. Schmidt encouraged the weird and wonderful in all of us and his work showed that he took this principle to heart. He encouraged us to explore the world around us and to develop our own unique perspectives. He made us look at the details of our every day lives, and took his students on field trips to farmer’s markets, tiny towns (like Spuzzum) and, memorably, to an abandoned tuberculosis and insane asylum.

His love of history was infectious. He especially enjoyed personal histories, helping me develop old family negatives and encouraging me to explore my Doukhobor heritage, writing books about local history, photographing heritage buildings and ghost towns, and possessing a passion for Billy Miner. In grade 10 Social Studies, he even shared his own life story. My class was slightly baffled as he gave a slideshow that included childhood photos and anecdotes about growing up in a divided Berlin and his immigration to Canada (he threw up on the plane ride over). Oddly enough, the “Life of Wilf” lesson remains firmly etched on my memory, more so than any other class I experienced in high school.

I can definitely contribute some of my love of personal and social history to Mr. Schmidt. I can also credit him for introducing me to the works of photographers including Margaret Bourke-White, Jacob Riis, Man Ray, Weegee, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Ansel Adams, to name a few, as well as street photography, toy cameras and the ultimate satisfaction of developing my own photographs.

Me and Jordan in front of The Little Photo Shop (we took these to send to Mr. Schmidt to show we’d missed him)

If Mr. Schmidt sensed even the slightest bit of genuine interest in you, he would let you get away with anything. We called him Papa Schmidt, held peaceful sit-ins in his office and he never shut down Darkroom Fight Club, thus we came to regard him with great respect. He encouraged a creative side of Jordan that I’m not sure even Jordan knew he possessed at the time, he recognized the obvious talents of Anja and always supported Jessica’s commitment to doing her best possible work.

Mr. Schmidt was a wonderful teacher and friend. His steadfast devotion to film (though he was far from a luddite, being one of the earliest Mac users I knew), his passion for helping people discover their innate creativity, his wonderfully absurd sense of humour, his artistic joy and his warm friendship are all qualities I will miss dearly. I will also miss his huge smile, white moustache and quirky mimicry (a quality I consider a great treasure).

Thank you, Mr. Schmidt. I will miss you.

Don Denton, photo. Please visit his blog to see some wonderful photos of Mr. Schmidt in his store.

Polaroids are instant disappointment – Wilf Schmidt

Here at Clarence House we love to put a bird on it. Her name is Daigoro and she’s usually pretty good natured about posing for a million photos for me. Gogo is like a weird little pokemon that rides around on my shoulder, loves the dishwasher and tries to eat the keys off my keyboard.

Headed back to Kamloops for the umpteenth time this year on the weekend. A lot of emotionally heavy stuff was on the schedule, but I left feeling unexpectedly positive. Seeing how the people close to me deal with the incredible challenges they are facing is inspiring and gives me hope for whatever rough patches I might see in my own future. There was also a reunion of friends that left me feeling uplifted and happy about all the funny, wonderful people in my life. On a super positive note, I got to have some great snuggles with Pika. Nothing like a little kitten chin resting on your arm in the morning.

This is my favourite photo of Pika from over the Christmas holidays. She’s nibbling on the Christmas tree where she thinks no one can see her.

I spent six days in my hometown, Kamloops, over the holidays. It was really relaxing and we had a full house for the first time in a few years, which was great. There was a kitten, lots of tall beers (Mt Begbie Nasty Habit IPA was the winner), 5 dozen fresh oysters and amazing mignottes, a traditional hot tub up in Rose Hill, snowy hikes, two turkey dinners and a never ending stream of good food that I didn’t have to prepare myself. I watched Chaplin (Robert Downey Jr in 1920s clothing was delightful), True Grit (I love movies with strong heroines) and Exit Through the Gift Shop (unexpected and great). I poked around in junk shops and big box stores alike. We even had a little snow in what seemed to be an otherwise dry winter for the interior. Incredible weather on the drive back to the coast (mountains all around!) was a nice bookend to a satisfying holiday.

I really liked the custom cat mugs at Sanbiki.