Wilhelm Hester
Photographer
Western Canada
He was born in Germany in 1872, and moved to the Pacific Northwest in the US in 1893 with his brother Ernst. There he photographed the tall ships that sailed the Northwest coast loading lumber and grain for markets abroad. Operating from studios in Seattle and Tacoma, he established a commercially successful business by taking and selling photographs of ships from around the world and their crews at various Puget Sound ports, often offering them as souvenirs to the sailors themselves. Many of the photographs depict ships in the ports of Seattle, Tacoma, and Port Blakely, and reveal details of ships’ decks, ship construction and rigging, interior views of masters’ salons and cabins, the faces of the ships’ captains and their families, and sailors from Britain, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and France. He also took pictures from Western Canada, especially from the Yukon.
LINKS: University of Washington | Online Archive of California | UBC