Ernest Hoeltzer was born in January 1835 in Germany and was an engineer by training. Following a transfer to Iran, he went on to become one of the pioneering photographers during the Qajar period and indeed worked for Naser al-Din Shah Qajar for close to 20 years. He is perhaps best know for his photographs of Isfahan and its people, the city where he established a commercial studiio and lived until his death in 1911.