Cpl. Zygmunt Kukieła "Zetka" was born on 29 May 1921 in Vilnius. In 1925, his family moved to Warsaw, where he passed his final secondary education exam in 1939. Living in the Saska Kępa district during the occupation, he initially worked for Polskie Zakłady Optyczne (Polish Optical Works), and in 1943 he took up employment at a photographic store at 125 Marszałkowska Street, owned by the famous photographer Henryk Poddębski. He and his brothers Antoni and Józef were active in a Home Army underground cell in the Praga district. His unit was tasked with attacking Warsaw-East Railway Station, but the Rising caught him in his store at Marszałkowska Street. After the fighting started, he was assigned to the "Stefan" Assault Company as a photo reporter of the staff of Sub-District 4 under Maj. Stanisław Steczkowski "Zagończyk". After the Rising, he was incarcerated in Stalag VII B in Memmingen, Bavaria. A soldier of the 2nd Polish Corps under Gen. Anders in 1945-1946, he returned to Poland in 1947 an set up a private enterprise manufacturing plastic products. He was also the head of the Fencing Section in the KS "Warszawianka" Sport Club. He died on 25 May 2002 in Warsaw.

During the Rising, he used a Leica camera, which he borrowed from Henryk Poddębski, to depict soldiers of the "Stefan" Assault Company of the "Rum" Battalion, and commanders from the staff of Sub-District 4 of the Home Army's City Centre District. He focused on everyday life of the insurgents – roll calls, leisure, celebrations and funerals. Most of his photographs were taken in August 1944 in City Centre North in the courtyard of the townhouse at 125 Marszałkowska Street, and in the vicinity of Capitol Cinema located at the back of the premises (ruined in September 1939). The original negatives perished in the fire that destroyed the photo lab and the townhouse in which it was located. The only items from the large collection that survived the war are prints which Zygmunt Kukieła would give as souvenirs to his photographed comrades.