Theodor Horydczak in gun breach of 12" C.A.C. Barbatt carriage gun at Fort Baker, California. LC-H822-1719 (detail)

Horydczak with sample of work LC-H822-3207-x (detail)

Little is known about Horydczak himself. He is believed to have been born in eastern Europe, and to have taken up photography during or after World War I, possibly while a member of the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

Horydczak's residence in Washington spanned the period from the early 1920s to his retirement in 1959. Horydczak's studio logbook opens with a 1921 entry for a photograph of cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin.