‘Prints of Wales’ early Bremerton photographer, shown in gallery
Photography News

‘Prints of Wales’ early Bremerton photographer, shown in gallery

BREMERTON ― If you’ve witnessed any photograph capturing the earliest times of this city and its shipyard, possibilities are very good Herbert Ernest Wale took it.

The “Prints of Wales,” his cleverly named studio on Pacific Avenue that opened 114 several years in the past, was the location the Spanish-American War veteran set up shop to doc the quaint town and its bustling Navy yard up right until Globe War II.

Aerials from flyovers. Soccer teams’ photograph times. Ceremonies marking shipyard dry dock openings and vessel launchings. Scenes on the road. Wale shot it all.  

‘Prints of Wales’ early Bremerton photographer, shown in gallery

“Absolutely everyone seems to have 1 of his pics squirreled away,” reported Megan Churchwell, who just curated a showcase of his work in the Puget Sound Naval Museum’s Reverman Classroom. “It looks like he must’ve been almost everywhere through this time period of nearby heritage.”  

He was, as Churchwell admits, a thing of a character who stored the lens focused absent from himself most of the time.