BY FRANK JASPER, OFM

Little did he know when he ordered his photography kit from Sears Roebuck in the 1930s that Fr. Valens Waldschmidt would begin a hobby that gave him, his family and friends so much pleasure.ﾠ Almost 95, with severe macular degeneration, Val cannot fully appreciate his work from the previous decades.ﾠ But the images are fixed in his mind.

Valens got hooked on photography when he developed his first roll of film in grade school.ﾠ “It was like magic.ﾠ The images just seemed to appear.”ﾠ He did not have an enlarger and so his first prints were really small contact prints—the same size as the negative.ﾠ But it got him started in his lifelong quest to create beautiful and interesting photographs.

In high school he was not permitted to use the photo lab because there was only one photographer per class and so his hobby lay dormant until he was ordained and moved to St. George Parish in Cincinnati.ﾠ Fr. Roland Ulmer gave him an enlarger and he quickly set up shop in the friary basement.ﾠ He bought a better lens and worked tirelessly to create some magnificent images of friars and, later on, students and teachers in the parish grade school in Streator, Ill.

Three elements

When I pulled the pictures from his portfolio, they were as rich and vibrant as the day he printed them in his basement.ﾠ I described each picture and he told me the story behind each one as though he had viewed them a thousand times.ﾠ Fr. Val expounded on this theory of photography.ﾠ It has three elements.ﾠ “Each picture has a history (who’s in it, where was it taken, what was the story behind it).ﾠ Then, there’s what I’m trying to bring out in the picture by various angles, shading, lighting, contrast, etc.ﾠ Finally, there is the person’s response to my picture—what are they feeling, what is evoked, what do they associate with it.”

“When I have a really good negative, I blow it up to 11-by-14.”ﾠ And, Val did have a number of excellent quality prints, mostly from his years at St. Anthony Parish in Streator.ﾠ That’s where he spent the most time fussing with his pictures.ﾠ He tried to do color prints, but the temperature requirements were so stringent he decided to hand color his B & W prints instead.

I was impressed with his composition, the expressions on the faces and the tonal quality of his black and white prints.ﾠ They evoke a nostalgic feel, yet show a deeper side of the person in the picture.ﾠ You can tell they enjoy being with him as much as he enjoys being with them.

Telling a story

Every picture had a story that he loved to tell.ﾠ He expounded at length on a few of his favorites.ﾠ Obviously, we did not make it through his entire packet before the nurses were pestering him to get in bed and turn out the lights.ﾠ He ignored them as long as possible because he was so energized in talking about his hobby.

Val had a variety of camera equipment along the way.ﾠ Being a true Franciscan, he always bought his cameras second-hand, usually from a pawn shop.ﾠ His favorites were a Rolleiflex 2¼ x 2¼ and an Olympus 35 mm.ﾠ He rolled his own film from hundred-foot rolls that he purchased from New York.ﾠ Discovering bargain-priced photographic paper, he stocked up on 11-by-14s and blew up his favorite images.ﾠ He enjoyed working with the children and they were very cooperative in staging some of the pictures for him, especially his nieces and nephews who are now in their 50s and 60s.

Val entered several of his photographs in competitions, but he never won anything.ﾠ However, he did have a major exhibit in 2008 at Archbishop Leibold Home where he lives.ﾠ His neighbors were amazed at his hidden talent.

Now Val is downsizing and giving away his pictures and photo equipment.ﾠ Some of the cameras are so old that they don’t make film for them anymore.ﾠ Others are in mint condition, but they are old technology.ﾠ However, this “old stuff” created some of the lovely pictures that are here.ﾠ.ﾠ However, this “old stuff” created some of the lovely pictures that are here.

place to a tune only they could hear. One exception was Casey Sewall, aka President Obama. Arms akimbo in an I-mean-business attitude, he gave his performance the gravitas it deserved.

Between tours, teacher Kyle rallied the troops. “I need for you to be more still than you’ve ever been,” he said. “Frozen like statues.”

It didn’t matter. They were having fun.  And there was more to this than a 30-second spiel. Students also had to write a report on the historical figure and his or her impact on the world. Why did you choose Ruby Bridges?, D’eaysa was asked. “Because she did not care what the other kids looked like; she was just there to learn,” was her insightful response.

After the last tour, the legends climbed down from their pedestals to return to their real-life classrooms. And ushers greeted departing guests with, “Thank you for visiting our museum. We hope you had a wonderful time.”

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My family says of my life, “Join the friars and see the world.” And it is kind of true. At the end of January it was Rome, then Jamaica, and this week I write to you from bright and sunny Albuquerque. (These opportunities are a blessing, but it does get wearying when the trips are back-to-back.) We are stretched and broadened by the opportunity to leave our home towns and experience many places and cultures, a privilege many people do not have. The world indeed is our “cloister.” Wherever we find ourselves is where we live the Gospel, following Jesus in the spirit of Francis. I remember our brother Larry Landini describing our rule as “tips for the road.” Here in the Southwest I will visit Manuel Viera, Matthias Crehan, Paul Walsman, Bryant and Bruce Hausfeld, Ricardo Russo and Bill Spirk. I will also meet with the other six U.S. Provincials and the team guiding our restructuring process, including our own Page Polk. I do look forward to sleeping in my own bed, sometime!

— Fr. Jeff Scheeler, OFM Email To a Friend