Burger se naučil umění fotografie od svého strýce Andrease von Ettingshausena (1796–1878) v 60. letech 19. století. V roce 1874 Burger otevřel vlastní fotografický ateliér ve Vídni.
Wilhelm Joseph Burger (15 March 1844 – 7 March 1920) was an Austrian photographer and painter, based in Vienna. Around the 1870s, he traveled to Thailand and Japan, as well as the Arctic, where he took photographs that have become historical…