Born in Rorschach, Switzerland, 1923. After studying at the Art School in Zurich, he started working as a window dresser for local department stores. During the late 1940s he became the assistant of his former teacher Max Bill and also worked for Werner Bischof. In the same period he started working in editorial design focusing on art and photo books. Since 1952 he worked as a freelance photojournalist for Magnum agency in Paris travelling to Middle East, India, and Far East. His photos appeared in Life, Paris Match, and other famous magazines. In 1956-57 he taught visual design at the Ulm School of Design. In 1962 he opened his own publishing house in Zurich and continued to work in both photography and graphic design. In 1971 he opened also his own art gallery in Zurich. During the years he became the best-known photographer of Alberto Giacometti producing books, exhibitions, and films about him. In 2010 the Foundation Ernst Scheidegger Archive was founded. He died in Zurich in 2016.