Little is found on the life of Werner Eckelt, though his photography brought him into the orbit of 20th century luminaries from the 1930s onward. Professionally trained in painting and graphic design, he found work as a post-war photographer documenting life in West Berlin, and would later travel all over the world to photograph dancers, artists, actors, writers, and politicians of international fame such as Andy Warhol and Cy Twombly. As a painter he worked in oils and acrylics creating abstract expressionist compositions. He died in Berlin in 1990.

Ten years after his death a photobook of his work, titled "Requiem auf West-Berlin: Bilder aus einer verlorenen Zeit" (Requiem for West Berlin: Pictures from a Lost Time), edited by Manfred Heckmann and Julius Schoeps (Henschel Verlag, Berlin, 2000).