As somebody really wary of Google in general, the first thing I did on my phone was to disable Chrome and Google Pictures, and replaced them by apps from F-Droid
For a few days now, I've seen them reappear in my app drawer, and with careful observation, the play store seems to be re-enabling and reinstalling them by itself when checking if updates are available.
Uninstalling and disabling them again just kick the can down to the next repository upgrade.
This question talk about google chrome, but do not give an explanation for google pictures.
Auto updates are disabled, android 9.