Vilém Heckel

Vilém Heckel (21 May 191831 May 1970) was a Czech photographer. He devoted himself mainly to landscape photography, with special focus on the photography of mountains. In 1970, he died at Huascarán, Peru. Vilém Heckel was one of the founders of the genre of industrial and promotional photography in Czechoslovakia.

Life

Heckel studied to be a photographer in the portrait atelier of Josef Chmelík in Plzeň, his home city. His artistic beginnings were focused on industrial photography. From 1937 to 1939, he was an employee of the Prague company Indusfoto, but later he became interested in theatre photography and photojournalism. He changed his place of work to the ateliers of Karel Drbohlav and Illek and Paul. He also spent a part of his early career as a photographer in Zbrojovka Brno.

Works Naše hory, 1956 Království slunce a ledu, 1960 Hory a lidé, 1964 (together with writer Ota Pavel) Expedice Kavkaz, 1965 Hindúkuš, 1967 Krásy Československa, 1968 Schody pod vesmír, 1970