Rozena Crossman, writing at Messy Nessy Chic, tells the remarkable story of the Séeberger brothers:

No one would have guessed that Jules, Louis and Henri were of modest origins, originally fine art students until 1903 when Jules began shooting photos around Montmartre.

Eventually his brothers tagged along, as younger siblings do. Jules and Henri entered Paris’ annual photo contest in 1904; by 1905, the three of them created a family-run photography atelier at 33 rue de Charbrol in the 10th arrondissement of Paris. Postcards were their trade, and they traveled around France to capture the country at the turn of the century.

Four years later they were discovered by the head of the fashion magazine La Mode Pratique. Looking for a way to keep up with the latest trends, the magazine commissioned the Séebergers to shoot photos of socialites showing off their impeccable taste at the races in the Bois de Boulogne. The brothers called their new work “instantanés de Haute-Mode” or “snapshots of high fashion.”

The rest, as they say, is history.