Josef Seidel

He was born in Hasel village by Děčín. He finished photographic college and as a craftsman he travelled through many countries of the monarchy of that time. In the mid 1880\'s he became acquainted with the Šumava mountains. Around 1887 he worked in Prachatice and in 1888 came to Český Krumlov where he worked as a shop head of the photographic firm of Gottfried Zimmer. Two years later he bought the firm and ran it under his name. As every photographer in a small town, he had to make portraits and so-called social photographs. As part of the tourist industry and to fullfil the demand for souvenirs and post cards, he provided photographs of Český Krumlov and other places on post-card format, and within several years he became the uncrowned king of Šumava photographers. When he died, his twenty-seven-year-old son František took over the family firm. The firm had 11 employees at the time and was divided into three sections that were called portraits, amateur and postcard. Josef Seidel also had a house built with a photographic studio in Linecká no. 54 street in Český Krumlov. This studio was used until 1949.

(pj)