Quesnel was rather unusual in that the first two professional resident photographers were both Chinese.
C.S. Wing was born in Quesnel and took up photography in the first decade of the twentieth century. An exhibit of his work traveled through Western Canada from 2008 – 2012 and is now on display at the Quesnel Museum. For a sample of his work see the C.S. Wing Photo Collection.
We believe C.D. Hoy obtained his first camera from William Bunting, the Manager of the Hudson Bay post at Fort St. James, as an inducement for him to stay on as a cook. His earliest datable portraits are of the Moffatt family who ranched just south of Quesnel. Hoy worked for them in 1909, prior to purchasing his business in Quesnel. From 1909 to about 1920 he took over 1,500 portraits in Quesnel and Barkerville. The negatives are now in the collection of Barkerville Historic Town. The exhibit, First Son, which included 81 of his portraits toured North America from 1999-2005. In 2012-13, Who am I?, a selection of his portraits was exhibited in Hong Kong and Guangdong, China. You can view a sampling of these remarkable portraits in the C.D. Hoy Gallery at the Quesnel Museum.
The two men operated competing general stores and photography businesses from opposite corners of Barlow Ave and Reid St in Quesnel.
Gerry Fun worked as a photographer for the Quesnel Advertiser/Northern Pictorial from 1958 to 1960. He donated the Quesnel Advertiser/Northern Pictorial negative collection to the Museum and was responsible for taking the vast majority of the images in this collection. The museum developed the temporary exhibit The Booming Fifties; Through the Lens of the Quesnel Advertiser in 2009.